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Kingston mayor seeks rent control through emergency declaration

Kingston Mayor Steve Noble on October 16, 2020
Courtesy of the Office of Kingston Mayor Steve Noble/Screenshot by WAMC, Allison Dunne
Kingston Mayor Steve Noble on October 16, 2020

Kingston Mayor Steve Noble is urging the Common Council to opt into a housing emergency declaration following the completion of a new rental vacancy study. In April and May, the city surveyed properties built prior to 1974 with six or more rental units to determine how many of the units were vacant, occupied, or unavailable to rent. Noble, a Democrat, says Kingston has a low net vacancy rate of 1.57 percent, which is having a direct impact on the cost of housing. The city completed a similar study in 2020, at which time the rental vacancy rate was 6.7 percent.

What is meant by a housing emergency declaration?

This will allow us to enter into the state's Emergency Tenant Protection Act. This is a law that's been on the books here in New York for quite some time, but a few years ago was expanded to include upstate New York, which includes us here and Ulster County. And so by having a housing emergency declared with a low vacancy rate, we're able to adopt what is called the ETPA and be able to create a rent stabilization board, and really then be able to take action on stabilizing our rents and having what is generally known as rent control here in our community.

So practically speaking, what are the impacts of having that low net vacancy rate?

It means for our residents that they have very little areas within the city to be able to move to with low vacancy rates, it means that the supply is extremely low, and unfortunately means that some landlords can then charge whatever they want for these apartments and our tenants have no recourse: they can't move, because there's nowhere to move to. And so, by stabilizing the rents, we hope that this will make sure that for over 1,200 apartments here in the City of Kingston, that, you know, our rent will be more stabilized, will be more under control. And we won't see the 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%-plus increases that we've seen at some of our larger establishments over the last year or so.

What types of apartments or buildings would be subject to the rent control?

So for us here, under the state law, it's all buildings that were built before 1974 that contain six or more units. And so as I mentioned, that's just over 1,200 apartments here in the City of Kingston that would fall under these new rules and regulations under this rent control board.

Do you know what's driving the scarcity?

I think we've got two issues. One more people are flocking to Kingston, Ulster County, the Hudson Valley that was happening prior to the pandemic, it's been exacerbated by the pandemic and people moving to upstate. We were one of the only cities that actually grew from 2010 to 2020, based on the new Census. And we feel like what has also happened is that no one has built anything of real substantial nature in our area, you know, in decades, and so we've been able to build some more affordable workforce housing in the last few years. But it has not met up with the demand. And so we have a real supply and demand issue. So this is just one tool of many tools the city's using to be able to not only, you know, restrict rent increases, but also be able to incentivize new development. We're rolling out a new form based code as we speak, to be able to increase the availability to actually build denser and more creatively in our community.

What is meant specifically by rent control? What kind of parameters are we talking about there?

A rent control board is formed. That board then controls what is an allowable rent increase for these covered apartments. They do have to take into consideration a variety of different factors in determining what is an appropriate rent. In most communities that have rent control, you usually see rent increases that range from anywhere from 0% to 3-4%. That that has generally been what we've seen in other communities here in New York from, you know, Westchester, Rockland, and down into New York City. And so that's what they do. And they then enforce making sure that landlords are not charging more than that in these covered buildings.

Are you seeing a commensurate increase in housing insecurity or homelessness?

We have seen a lot of folks that have had a hard time finding an apartment within their price range. And what we've seen is an increase in people paying more, you know, out of their annual salary. And so generally, you shouldn't spend more than 30% of your total income on housing. But here in Kingston and Ulster County, we have people that pay upwards of 50% or more of their income toward housing. And so that really has been the biggest impact that we have seen. There have been some that have to move from place to place to be able to find affordability, but we have not seen necessarily mass displacement or mass homelessness, you know, to date.

I have to imagine your idea will be met with some opposition from landlords, or at least some of the landlords who would be affected. What's your pitch to them?

You know, we think that what this does is it makes one, a have a fair and even playing field amongst all of those large housing complexes, so that everyone is, you know, treated equally, when it comes to these rent increases. It allows these tenants to move more freely between these types of complexes, because everyone is kind of working off of the same rules and regulations. And we feel as though still being able to have rent increases will still help them meet, you know, their increased costs, but at the same time making sure that our residents are not being out-priced and, you know, displaced from where some of them have had their homes in these establishments for decades. And so I feel like this is a, a good, you know, fair practice, it obviously has worked in New York City, and in Westchester and Rockland County for years. And that's why it was allowed to be extended to upstate New York and landlords have gotten used to it there. And I think that our large complexes will get used to it here. Again, generally, this doesn't impact the mom and pop landlords, because they usually have less than six units.

One more thing while I have you. We haven't spoken since the special master finalized U.S. House maps for New York state, and you were on record opposing an initial draft that would have split the City of Kingston into two different congressional districts. That was rectified in the final version of the maps. So what's your reaction to that?

You know, we're really happy that the special master and the judge, in that case, listened to our concerns. We really felt it was wrong to be able to split a city into two congressional districts, especially in the odd way that it was drawn through our community. And so we were really happy that we were brought back into just one congressional district. And I'm glad that they were able to hear my feedback and hear our concerns and to be able to know that that came from a voice of concern, and there was then a voice of reason on the other end that heard those concerns and, you know, made those changes to the map. So we're happy to see that and, you know, looking forward to an exciting election season, that's for sure here in the New York, 18 and 19. You know, in the in the weeks and months ahead.

Well, there have been a lot of dominoes to fall since the maps were finalized. Have you yourself given any thought to running for a different office?

No, I am very happy to be the mayor here in the City of Kingston. And, you know, I'm excited to hopefully run again next year for my own job here. And, you know, we've got a lot of great things happening in the city and I'd love to see those move forward in the weeks and years to come.

A lifelong resident of the Capital Region, Ian joined WAMC in late 2008 and became news director in 2013. He began working on Morning Edition and has produced The Capitol Connection, Congressional Corner, and several other WAMC programs. Ian can also be heard as the host of the WAMC News Podcast and on The Roundtable and various newscasts. Ian holds a BA in English and journalism and an MA in English, both from the University at Albany, where he has taught journalism since 2013.
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