Harlem Lawmaker Blasts New Rent Laws In Letter To Constituents

HARLEM, NY — Harlem lawmaker Inez Dickens is breaking ranks with her Democratic colleagues in the State Legislature and voicing her opposition against a package of pro-tenant rent laws passed this summer.

In a letter sent to constituents, Dickens writes that the new laws may carry the unintended consequences of displacing people of color from neighborhoods such as Harlem. The longtime lawmaker writes that by shifting costs from tenants to landlords, "small minority property owners" will be "forced to relinquish their buildings due to the overwhelming cost thrust upon them with no assistance by either the city or state legislature."

"Many of the residents screaming for justice in order to protect the cultural identity of their community did not give an audience to the small minority owner who also fought for the neighborhood during its worst times as to how they can be protected as well," Dickens' letter continues.

Dickens' public opposition to the new laws comes at a curious time. The package of laws — called The Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act 2019 — passed the State Legislature and was signed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo in June. Dickens missed the vote.

More recently, groups representing landlords such as the Rent Stabilization Association and the Community Housing Improvement Program filed a federal lawsuit in July to dismantle New York's rent regulation system.

The Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act 2019 includes numerous protections for tenants of both rent-stabilized and market-rate housing, but most of the laws reform aspects the rent regulation system in favor of tenants. The package will limit and eliminate some forms of rent hikes landlords were entitled to when a unit became vacant or when renovations were done at an apartment.

Read more about the new rent laws in Patch's previous coverage.

Tenant advocates and supporters of the new laws found Dickens' letter "disappointing" due to the lawmaker's lack of communication while the rent laws were being proposed.

Jason Wu, a member of Community Board 11, said that Dickens was one of two local politicians that didn't attend the board's discussion of the rent laws in April. As a local elected official in the state legislature, the board was keen on hearing from Dickens, but emails and phone calls would go unanswered for weeks, Wu said. The board ended up passing a resolution unanimously supporting the laws.

"I think the fact that she refused to have a conversation with Community Board 11 prior to the end of the legislative session to explain what her position was is extremely disrespectful," Wu, an attorney with the Legal Aid Society, said.

Tenant organizer Michael McKee of TenantsPAC said that he wasn't surprised at Dickens' decision to oppose the rent laws because he considers her an anti-tenant lawmaker.

"She votes for [bills] usually because she has to because of her district, but she makes no secret of her sympathies, and she's not sympathetic to tenant protection laws, and she never will be," McKee said.

The tenant organizer tied Dickens' opposition to the rent laws to her own business interests as a landlord in Harlem. Dickens has been criticized by political opponents in the past for keeping her real estate holdings, which were managed by her sister, in poor condition. In 2014, tenants at one of her Harlem buildings launched a rent strike, the Daily News reported at the time.

McKee also described Dickens' reasoning for opposing the tenant laws — that they hurt small landowners — as a talking point of the real estate industry. Ultimately, McKee does not think Dickens' letter will have an effect on the rent laws or the pending lawsuit challenging them, he told Patch.

A request for comment sent to Dickens' office was not returned.

Read Dickens' letter in full below: