Senator Martin Golden

7408 5th Ave

Brooklyn, NY 11209
June 1, 2015
Dear Senator Golden:
We are writing on behalf of Asian American, Arab American, Latino, Jewish, and immigrant
residents of your district to express our outrage over your silence on the need for stronger rent laws.
New York City currently has 1 million rent-regulated apartments, which are home to 2.5
million low- and moderate-income residents. In your district alone, there are more than 36,000 rentregulated apartments.
If the rent laws are not strengthened on June 15, many apartments will become more
unaffordable, and tenants in your district will face displacement and even homelessness.
Its long past time for you to fight for the tenants you represent, rather than well-connected
landlords and developers.
The issue of stronger rent laws is particularly urgent for immigrant New Yorkers, who
occupy approximately half of all rent-regulated units in New York City. Immigrant communities,
including Latino, Asian American, and Arab American communities, struggle to access and hold
onto affordable housing in your district and elsewhere in the city.
For many low- and moderate-income New Yorkers, rent-regulated housing is the only
affordable housing option we have. But rent-regulated tenants are increasingly being displaced
because the current rent laws incentivize landlords to push them out of their apartments. Once
tenants vacate, landlords can remove apartments from rent regulation by raising rents above $2,500.
Upon vacancy, rents can rise indefinitely, and tenants lose eviction protections.
This process of vacancy deregulation is how hundreds of thousands of affordable
apartments have been lost over the past 20 years. But as more and more New Yorkers are priced out
of their apartments, the number of affordable units continues to shrink, making it harder for many
residents of your district to find a place to live.
The affordability crisis has grown more extreme over the past decade through weakened rent
laws. Landlords are incentivized to raise rents in order to deregulate apartments, and the higher the
rents get, the less affordable housing becomes. Its a vicious cycle that needs to end.
Extending the rent laws in their current weak form will mean greater losses of affordable
housing. The way to preserve and expand affordable housing is by strengthening the rent laws.
Between now and June 15, we need to hear your voice as a champion of tenants, not the landlords
or developers who try to control Albany through campaign contributions.
If you dont stand up for stronger rent laws now, the consequences will be dire for our
communities. And, we assure you, our communities are paying attention.
Sincerely,
Alliance for Tenant Power
Arab American Association of New York
Asian American Federation
Jews for Racial and Economic Justice
Make the Road New York