State Dems move to quickly advance upstate rent control bill

As the number of scheduled session days dwindles to the single digits, leaving little time for lawmakers to advance nonbudget bills before they leave Albany on June 4, several Democrats have made it clear they have their sights set on expanding rent stabilization outside New York City. And state legislative leaders are seriously considering taking it up.

“Yeah, we’re talking about it,” Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie told reporters Wednesday as lawmakers started to debate and pass budget bills.

Current law, or the Emergency Tenant Protection Act of 1974, lets localities outside the five boroughs adopt rent stabilization, or place an annual limit on rent hikes, if they declare a state of housing emergency, or prove a housing vacancy rate of 5% or less through a vacancy study.. But state Senate Housing Committee Chair Brian Kavanagh sponsors a bill known as the Rent Emergency Stabilization for Tenants, or REST Act, that would allow localities to use more public data and tools to declare a housing emergency, like rates of homelessness or eviction rates, rather than a costly study.