Hoboken Rent Control Amendments Vetoed By Mayor Bhalla

HOBOKEN, NJ — Over the last year, the nine members of the Hoboken City Council have tried to tighten aspects of the city's 50-year-old Rent Control Ordinance.

On Friday, Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla vetoed the most recent round of amendments, saying he looks forward to working on them more in the future.

Evolved Over Decades

The ordinance, which went into effect locally in 1973, is meant both to protect tenants from surprise rent hikes, and to allow landlords to pass along reasonable increases and surcharges.

The ordinance has evolved over 50 years and faced close referendum votes.

Recently, it's become a lifeline to tenants as Hoboken average rents have ranked among the 15 highest in the nation.

Over the last year, the City Council considered and passed several rounds of amendments to the ordinance. But they're not straightforward:

Each time the council has considered changes, debate has raged over how well the new changes protect present and future tenants.

Several Rounds Of Recent Amendments

Earlier this month, five council members passed amendments that they said were meant to improve upon other, recently passed amendments.

On Friday, Mayor Ravi Bhalla vetoed the most recent changes to the ordinance, but said he wants to continue to iron out aspects of the law.

Bhalla's office confirmed his veto on Friday.

The two council members whose wards contain the most affordable housing in Hoboken — Ruben Ramos Jr. and Michael Russo — supported the newest changes. So did council members Tiffanie Fisher, Jen Giattino, and Michael DeFusco, who have been critical of Bhalla at times.

The recent amendments were also written with the help of two groups that are often foes — a tenant advocate group and a landlord advocate — who were attempting to compromise to prevent litigation and a potentially close referendum vote, like those in the past.

2nd Ward Councilwoman Tiffanie Fisher said on Friday that Bhalla's veto concerned her. She wrote in a statement below that dealing with rent control has always been a " balancing act."

Below is her statement, followed by Bhalla's statement vetoing the changes.

(Read other recent Patch coverage of tenant displacement in Hoboken and rent increase issues here.)

Councilwoman Fisher's Statement

Mayor Bhalla, by vetoing B-550, has once again destabilized Hoboken’s rent control environment, further increasing the threat of displacement and affordability and housing insecurities that so many suffer in our town.

For three decades the practice by Hoboken’s Rent Control office, including 12 years under Mayor Bhalla’s watch, has allowed landlords to charge future tenants accrued or “banked” annual CPI rent increases that had not previously been charged to existing tenants. When this provision was eliminated by five City Council votes in February, a move that was almost universally opposed by tenants and landlords alike, the future of Hoboken’s rent control laws were threatened.

By taking money out of property owners’ pockets, many who are long-term Hoboken residents on fixed incomes, to benefit future tenants and not existing ones, it only created even more incentives for property owners to get out from under rent control either via condo conversion or a promised ballot measure that risks eliminating rent control altogether.

B-550 was a compromise solution between tenant and landlord advocates to re-stabilize Hoboken’s rent control environment in what has been a precarious balancing act in Hoboken’s heated real estate market, while providing further support for existing tenants to defend their legal rent calculations. Mayor Bhalla’s veto of B-550 is a terrible loss for Hoboken tenants today.

Mayor Bhalla's Veto:

Bhalla released this letter with his veto:

Are Luxury Buildings Under Rent Control?

Meanwhile, the city has been dealing with other matters related to climbing rents in Hoboken, including landlords allegedly trying to evict tenants without the proper process, and determinations of whether certain luxury buildings actually fall under rent control.

The city has said that Avalon Hoboken and the Rivington fall under rent control, as they did not file required state exemptions on time.

Tenants of at least two other large luxury complexes on the west side of town — one on Jefferson Street and one on Jackson Street — are waiting for determinations, sources have said. Read more here.