News from City Hall
Today, Mayor Kamal Johnson vetoed the resolution passed by the Common Council on Tuesday authorizing a vacancy study to determine the city's eligibility for rent stabilization under the Emergency Tenant Protection Act. In his veto message, Johnson explained:
Based upon a preliminary inventory of rent regulated housing stock prepared for the Housing Task Force in approximately 2018, an estimated 21% of Hudson's residents are already living in low-income, permanently affordable, rent regulated housing.
Specifically, most buildings with 6 or more units built before 1974 or financed with federal or state subsidies are already rent regulated/stabilized e.g. Bliss, Terraces, Providence, Terraces, Crosswinds, leaving only a handful of buildings that might be eligible for rent stabilization. Based on these numbers it is all but assured that Hudson's vacancy rate is far higher than the 5% required for participation in the ETPA program.
Accordingly, I cannot justify authorizing the expenditure of $15,000 not budgeted or planned for in the 2020 City Budget to document what we already know. I believe there are better ways to address concerns over affordable housing in Hudson and I am willing to work with the Council on this issue but cannot support this ill-advised use of taxpayer money.
Oh my, did I finally hear some common sense coming out of City Hall? Bravo Mayor Kamal, lets hope the Council likewise has the sense not to override this veto and waste another $15,000 of taxpayer money on yet another pointless survey.
ReplyDeleteThis is a very rational assessment, that saves us all time and money.
ReplyDeletethank you Kamal.
This is great news! Some might think this decision is at odds with values the Mayor championed in his campaign, but by looking at the facts and making an informed decision Johnson is doing what's best for everyone in our city. That Hudson wouldn’t qualify for ETPA was practically a foregone conclusion. Moreover, the benefits of ETPA in Hudson are debatable at best, and may well have done more long term harm than good. While ETPA can have a stabilizing impact in the larger cities for which it was actually designed - places with thousands of residential units in large apartment buildings - a market like Hudson with a very limited stock of older smaller multi-unit buildings would be extremely vulnerable to the worst unintended effects of rent control - degradation and decay of existing apartments, an overall reduction in the supply of lower priced residential options, and accelerated gentrification. It's great to have a Mayor who does his homework and makes decisions based on objective fact.
ReplyDeleteWell done, Mayor Johnson.
ReplyDelete