Tuesday, July 2, 2024
Year : 2, Issue: 31
The Hoboken City Council unanimously voted down an effort to weaken the city’s rent control measures and allow landlords to raise rents on certain apartments on Monday night, setting up a high-stakes fight this fall.
The Democratic-led Council rejected a proposal that would have changed the rules for when and how rent can be raised on low-priced apartments in Hoboken. The proposal was backed by the city’s landlords, who said they were looking to increase prices to help cover their expenses.
The 9-0 vote by the local Legislature now sets up an even bigger fight in November, when voters will be asked to weigh in on a ballot referendum that housing advocates and officials say will gut rent control in the 1-square mile city just across the Hudson River from the Big Apple. Meanwhile, property owners say that the rent adjustment is needed to generate enough money to maintain and update buildings.
The fight over rent control in Hoboken underscores a major affordability issue in the New York City metro area and New Jersey. In the past few years, median rents in Hoboken have steadily increased to $3,850 a month, according to Zillow. And over the past two decades, the number of rent-controlled apartments in the city has dipped from 12,000 to 8,000.
Statewide, experts estimate that New Jersey is short more than 200,000 affordable apartments for low-income residents.
The dramatic fight over rent control in Hoboken came on swiftly this summer.
“It says something that in a region like New York City you could get something on a ballot like that in Hoboken,” said City Councilmember Phil Cohen. “It bodes very badly for the region with respect to affordable rentals.”
Simoncini, the association’s executive director, called that allegation “a bunch of hooey.” He said his group needed 894 signatures to get on the ballot, and received more than 1,200.
On Tuesday, Bhalla said he was “pleased” with the Council’s vote against the landlord-backed proposal and was “fully confident” the ballot referendum would be defeated.
Source: Gothamist
