Rent increase comes
for rent-stabilized
units in October
BY ROBBIE SEQUEIRA
Tenants of New York City’s
1 million rent-stabilized
apartments will see a rise in
their rent this fall, despite
concerns from tenant groups
that COVID-related hardships
are making those units
unaffordable.
During its Wednesday
night virtual meeting, the
city Rent Guidelines Board approved
a rent increase of 1.5%
for one-year leases and a 2%
increase for two-year leases in
rent-stabilized apartments.
The decision, which
passed via a 5-4 vote, will go
into effect this October.
Additionally, the board
agreed to a six-month rent
freeze on one-year leases in
rent-stabilized apartments to
allow tenants to recover from
financial setbacks during the
pandemic.
Board member Alex
Schwartz proposed that stipulation,
citing that despite New
York City’s progress in leveling
its unemployment rate
over the past year, that the
city and its residents are still
facing economic fallout from
the pandemic.
Despite a downturn in unemployment
from May 2020
to May 2021 from 20% to 11%,
roughly 15% of Bronx residents
are still unemployed,
according to Schwartz.
“New York City has suffered
over the past 15 or so
months … and New York’s job
loss as a percent of the total
employment during the first
year of the pandemic was
more than twice the national
decline,” he said. “As a result
of employment and income
loss, it’s estimated that about
20% or more of all renters fell
behind at some point.”
The application portal
for the state’s Emergency
Rental Assistance Program
opened on June 1.
The relief program comes
from $2.4 billion in funding
from the most recent federal
stimulus package and approved
was approved by the
state Legislature in April.
However, New York is one
of the last states in the nation
to roll out its rent relief program.
Ribbon cutting for La Central apartment buildings
BRONX TIMES R 30 EPORTER, JULY 2-8, 2021 BTR
On Wednesday, tenant advocacy
groups pushed for a
second rent freeze on all rent,
noting that the pandemic’s effect
on tenants’ working situation
and the rollout of the
state’s rent relief programs
are still uncertain.
“I think that there’s an assumption
that tenants can afford
to pay $10, $30 at the cost
of landlords continuing to
make profits,” tenant member
Sheila Garcia said. “We
haven’t seen the total effect
of the rent relief program, we
haven’t seen the total effect
of the pandemic on tenants.”
Leah Goodridge, a managing
attorney for housing
policy, phoned in during the
meeting and said that the proposed
rent hikes were making
the city uninhabitable to
New Yorkers who can’t afford
its luxury buildings.
“We had a recession that
created income and racial
disparities, we had inflated
rent prices that created an
unjust system,” she said. “At
this point in time, it is exceedingly
Photo via istockphoto.com
difficult to find an
affordable studio for less than
$1500 anywhere in this city.
What makes New York City
special are not the buildings,
it’s the people, because we
create the culture.”
During the meeting, Goodridge
and Garcia held a rally
outside, as the crowd implored
the board to “freeze the rent.”
The board ultimately
voted 6-3 against a second
rent freeze.
“There is a job that government
and elected officials
should be doing and there’s
a job we should be doing,”
board member Robert Ehrlich
said. “The job we should
be doing is looking at costs
and setting rent increases
that are commensurate with
those cost increases. A rent
increase to cover an increase
in operating costs is not unreasonable,
but his board has
not followed suit.”
BY BRONX TIMES
La Central, a development
that will yield nearly 500 new
affordable apartments to the
South Bronx, a state-of-the-art
YMCA and a BronxNet studio,
held a ribbon cutting on June
16 for Buildings A and B.
The ceremony was hosted
by the project’s development
team, which is a partnership
between The Hudson Companies,
BRP Companies, ELHTKC,
Breaking Ground and
Comunilife.
“A recovery for all of us requires
investing in more and
better housing so New Yorkers
from all walks of life have an
affordable place to call home,”
Mayor Bill de Blasio said.
“I’m thrilled for the residents
of the South Bronx and look
forward to the positive impact
La Central will have on the
community.”
Located at 556 and 600
Bergen Ave., the two buildings
will bring 494 units of affordable
housing to Melrose.
Apartments at La Central
range from studios to fourbedrooms
and are affordable
to residents earning between
30% and 130% of Area Median
Income (AMI.)
Half of all apartments are
earmarked for residents of
Community Board 1, which
includes the south Bronx
neighborhoods of Mott Haven,
Melrose and Port Morris. Additional
apartments are set
aside for municipal employees
as well as disabled applicants.
Together the three phases
of La Central comprise five individual
buildings, which will
include 992 affordable residences;
a fully programmed interior
landscaped courtyard;
80,000 square feet of community
facility space; a public
park; 45,000 square feet of retail
and a roof-mounted telescope
to be controlled by the
Bronx High School of Science.
626 Bergen Ave., the first
building completed at La Central
and developed by Breaking
Ground and Comunilife,
opened in the summer of 2019
and created 161 apartments for
formerly homeless veterans
and New Yorkers with special
needs as well as low-income
residents. The final phase is expected
to be completed in 2023
and will contain 350 affordable
apartments at a range of income
levels.
(in pink) Dr. Rosa Gil, President/CEO Comunilife, people from the community, Borough President
Ruben Diaz Jr., Councilman Rafael Salamanca, Liz Oakley, deputy commissioner NYC Housing
Preservation & Development and Eric Enderlin, president NYC Housing Development
Corp. Photos by Aracelis Batista
/istockphoto.com