Queens Affordable Housing Rally Calls For More Tenant Protections

CORONA, QUEENS -- Affordable housing advocates gathered in the auditorium of a Queens elementary school on Friday to rally for more tenant protections amid the city's rising rent prices.

State Sen. Jose Peralta (D-East Elmhurst) led the rally at P.S. 19 Marino Jeantet in Corona, calling for legislation to keep landlords from driving up rent prices that force tenants from their homes and later hosting a seminar on how to find affordable housing.

"We need to preserve and increase the number of affordable housing units and protect tenants from landlord harassment," Peralta said.

That includes a bill Peralta said he's pushing in the Senate to ban landlords from increasing preferential rent - anything below the apartment's legal regulated rent - when tenants renew their leases.

Peralta pointed out the preferential rent rates for units in three areas of his district - Jackson Heights, Corona, and parts of Woodside - are among the highest in the city at 37 percent.

He talked about eliminating the "vacancy bonus" that allows landlords to up a unit's rent by 20 percent every time a tenant moves out. Further, Peralta said he wants to examine how to regulate landlords spiking rent to pay for improvements or renovations to their apartments.

"If landlords make repairs in their buildings and tenants pay part of the expense in the form of a rent hike, that increase has to go as soon as the renovations are paid for," he said.

Peralta and the Neighborhood Housing Services of Queens also hosted a "How To Find And Apply For Affordable Housing" seminar after the rally that introduced participants to the city's different affordable housing programs and how to access them. The workshop covered everything from financial preparedness to using Housing Connect, an online tool to search and apply for affordable housing.

"Housing is paramount for healthy and sustainable neighborhoods," said Yoselin Genao-Estrella, executive director of NHS Queens. "We are currently facing a housing crisis in New York City."

Lead photo via the Office of Sen. Jose Peralta.