Gov. Cuomo’s faux victory on behalf of NYC renters

Commentary | ByCraig Gurian | Housing, NYC, Politics

June 22, 2011 — New York Governor Andrew Cuomo may describe a tentative deal on extending rent regulation for millions of New York City tenants as one representing “significant progress,” but the reality is that he has left the trigger points at which apartments are deregulated worse for tenants than they were 14 years ago, when then-Governor George Pataki first orchestrated legislative changes designed to destroy rent regulation. The fundamental levers of deregulation that Pataki put in place are untouched by Cuomo’s paltry efforts.
Pataki achieved substantial weakening of rent regulations back in 1997, at a moment when market theology was in full flower. If only landlords could do exactly what they want, tenants would magically do better. Never mind that it was only rent regulation that had protected tenants from high rents and had provided them the security that comes from knowing that their leases had to be renewed so long as they paid the rent and met their other obligations.
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