HNY’s 50th EP! 🥳 Cuomo calls to repeal Urstadt & NYC must expand voucher access, court rulesUntitled Episode

We mark our 50th episode with a reflection on the year that was. Plus, federal budget cuts are coming for housing in New York.

This is your New York Apartment Association weekly update with CEO Kenny Burgos.

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On The Agenda

2:09: Good news for city vouchers

03:28: Cuomo calls to repeal the Urstadt Law

05:10: Climate change and rent stabilization 

06:55: Proposed cuts to the federal housing budget

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Transcript

This week on Housing New York, it is my 50th podcast. We are going to celebrate the milestone by recapping some of our top moments. Plus, would repealing the Ursdadt law make housing better? Or worse. Do renters even know what it is? We have thoughts. And federal budget cuts are coming for housing in New York. We all need to get ready. 

Let’s start Housing New York. 

[THEME]

“We need 800,000 units to meet the demand today. What we have right now in the United States and what we have right now in New York City is almost a crisis of absurdity. Hundreds of thousands of renters are at risk, and there is literally no plan. The distress of rent-stabilized buildings is going to be one of the biggest stories for the next 12-18 months.”

[INTRO]

Welcome to the Housing New York podcast. I am Kenny Burgos, the CEO of the New York Apartment Association. We are back after a two-week break, taping this on Monday, July 21st. 

This is my 50th episode of the podcast and to mark the occasion, we are going to take a minute to reflect on the first 50 shows.

My first show was on October 7 of last year. The hot topic at the time was the future of Mayor Eric Adams – who was under pressure to resign after he was indicted. Joe Biden was still president, and the future was uncertain. 

In the past year, the political landscape has changed dramatically. We saw the election of President Trump, and then a backlash here in New York City in the Democratic primary for mayor. 

But the housing problems remain. Over the first 50 episodes we have spoken at length about the financial distress of apartment buildings and the potential consequences, and we have seen various news outlets and independent housing experts follow our lead to highlight these problems. 

The biggest takeaway for me has been the importance of being present. This podcast is short and informative. We’ve heard positive feedback from community board members, elected officials, reporters and some people who are just interested in housing. They use it as a resource to stay aware of what’s happening.

Thinking about how we should mark this milestone, we played with some crazy ideas. But we are going to stay true to the nature of the podcast and respect our listeners’ time. 

With that, let’s get to the news. 

[02:09] [Good news for city vouchers]

You’ve probably seen the headlines: a state appeals court just ordered the city to expand its voucher program. It’s a huge deal.

The New York City Council passed laws last year to widen eligibility for CityFHEPS vouchers to include low-income New Yorkers struggling with rent — not just those in shelters. Mayor Adams opposed the expansion, saying it would be too expensive and wouldn’t solve the housing crisis. But the Council overrode him, and now the courts have made it clear: the city has to move forward.

These vouchers are a lifeline, helping New Yorkers stay housed in one of the most expensive cities in the country. And they also play a critical role for rent-stabilized buildings that count on reliable rent payments to cover rising costs.

But with the city voucher program already costing more than $1.1 billion and federal cuts looming, there’s growing concern about how the city can afford this expansion.

There’s also the issue of supply. New York’s rental market is tighter than ever, and more vouchers won’t mean much if there’s nowhere to use them. Buildings that accept voucher holders, many of them rent stabilized, are already under strain from rising operating costs and years of policy restrictions.

If we’re serious about making this program work, we need more than court rulings. We need support for the housing providers who actually keep this system running.

Expanding access is one part of the solution. Keeping the buildings viable is the other.

[03:28] [Cuomo calls to repeal the Urstadt Law] 

Okay, we are going to talk about a proposal put forth by Andrew Cuomo last week. He is calling for the state to repeal the Urstadt Law.

If you are not familiar, the Urstadt Law is a decades-old statute that says the state has to approve most housing policy – especially rent regulation – or give the city permission to do something. 

When it was passed in 1971, many tenants were upset. For decades, tenant groups have called for its repeal. But, now that Andrew Cuomo is suggesting it, they have changed their tune! They are not so sure it is a good idea. 

Here’s the deal: Housing policy in the city has been horrible for decades. Changing the people making the policy is not likely to improve housing, since most elected officials are on the same page when it comes to housing in the city. They have little appetite to change the rent-regulation system. 

But we all know it is broken. 

So, how do you give voters hope that there will be better housing? You propose a change to the current system. 

That’s what Cuomo is doing. He is calling for mayoral control of housing, similar to how Bloomberg called for mayoral control of the schools back in the early 2000s. Except the mayor would need the City Council to go along with his ideas. 

But simply changing the driver isn’t going to steer us out of our housing crisis. We need concrete ideas on how to fix the system and eliminate barriers to abundant housing… ideas like fixing an unjust property tax system or ending costly and unnecessary mandates, or a dysfunctional housing court that forces struggling tenants into a courtroom instead of just providing them with rental assistance. 

Repealing Urstadt won’t magically change these things. But if candidates want to provide details of what they would do with a change to Urstadt, that would be great. 

We welcome a debate on better housing policy, wherever it happens. 

[05:10] [Climate change and rent stabilization]

We want to talk about climate change now. 

As you all know, there are ambitious goals put forth by the city and state to combat climate change — specifically by reducing carbon emissions in buildings. 

When it comes to rent-stabilized buildings, the government has always wanted its cake and to eat it too. They have put forth costly regulations and forced buildings to comply with them, but have made sure the regulated buildings cannot pass the added cost on to renters. 

This has led to lesser carbon emissions standards for the older stabilized buildings. But the costs aren’t nothing. I spoke to The New York Times about this topic, and specifically about how a four-year rent freeze will impact efforts to make buildings more green. 

I think it is important for elected officials to reset their thinking here. If the government caps rents and continues to drive up the cost of providing housing, there is only one final outcome: a bankrupt building. 

There are clearly some elected officials that think this is great. They want to bankrupt the building so the government can take it over. But the U.S. Constitution has something to say here. 

If providing housing is no longer profitable, property owners must be allowed to exit the system. Either tear down their building or change the use. Right now, the laws make this expensive and sometimes impossible, which is why most people just try to sell their failing buildings or walk away from them all together and let the bank take it over. 

What gets lost in this ideological fight is the renter. Living in a bankrupt building is a horrible experience. Oftentimes just as bad as living in government-run housing. Or nonprofit-run housing. 

The truth is that the best quality affordable housing in New York City has always been in privately owned rent-stabilized buildings that are adequately funded. 

So the combination of costly unfunded mandates and rent freezes will destroy thousands of buildings, and hurt hundreds of thousands of renters. 

[06:55] [Proposed cuts to the federal housing budget] 

Let’s talk about the federal budget now.

Last week, NYAA joined a coalition of housing advocates in the city to express concern over proposed cuts to the federal housing budget. Right now, there is a plan to reduce funding for Section-8 vouchers and local voucher programs. They would be replaced by a block funding mechanism that would give local governments more flexibility in how to spend the money, but it would reduce the amount of funding. 

We signed on to a letter that was sent to the New York congressional delegation asking them to oppose the cuts. 

The reason is simple. There needs to be funding to provide housing. Our members rely heavily on vouchers. Roughly 100,000 rent-stabilized apartments house voucher holders and many more apartments that are de-regulated, but are in stabilized buildings, house voucher holders too. 

Cutting this funding will cause chaos. It’s not good for voucher holders. It’s also not good for the other renters in the building, because that source of funding is generally necessary to do basic maintenance and repairs. 

We understand the desire to reform the system. We get why block-grant funding would allow communities to pick and choose the best use of the money, which could lead to more efficiency. 

But you can’t fill a $4 billion funding loss with efficiency. 

[OUTRO]

That’s the show this week.

Here’s the thing: conversation is good; engagement is good. Housing policy is broken in this city and the solution isn’t going to magically present itself. So we cut videos that inform, educate, and are intentionally driven to start conversations. 

You can check them out: Our handle is @housingNY on Instagram, X, and TikTok. 

You've been listening to Housing New York with Kenny Burgos and I'll see you all next week.

And remember, good housing policy starts with good conversation.