IPNTA Newsletters

March 2004

VICTORY! Our Homes Stay Affordable!

Nearly four years of organizing, of endless meetings, negotiations, rallies, fundraising, protests, leafleting, cheerleading, strategizing—well, they’ve finally paid off.

All current tenants in good standing at Independence Plaza North will now be protected from the threat of market-rent evictions.

As a result of intense negotiations lately between IPNTA and owner Laurence Gluck, we have reached an agreement—signed and now fully legal—that protects tenants from the fate experienced by so many other Mitchell-Lama residents throughout the city and state.

Here are the key points of the agreement:

1) Voucher tenants: Tenants whose income enables them to qualify for federal enhanced (“sticky”) vouchers will pay only 30 percent of their gross adjusted income for rent. The difference between that 30 percent and the apartment’s “fair market value” will be paid by the federal government. The fair market value is the amount negotiated between the landlord and the City.

No matter how much the tenant’s income rises, or declines, over time, the rent remains at 30 percent, although of course the dollar amount will either increase or decrease.

Some tenants have asked what will happen if their salary or other income dramatically increases.

In that unlikely event, their rent will still be 30 percent of their income, until it reaches a cap based on the fair market value. But anybody lucky enough to earn that income will have no difficulty finding apartments elsewhere. Or continuing to live at IPN at market rents.

2) “Over-Housed.” The federal government requires voucher recipients to live in apartments it deems suitable to their family size and makeup. Thus, if a single tenant lives alone in a two-bedroom apartment or larger, that tenant will have to relocate to a one-bedroom apartment. In other buildings, the tenant can stay in the current apartment only for a year, and then must find, on his or her own, someplace else that will accept the voucher.

But under our contract, if a one-bedroom unit does not exist, the tenant can stay put until a unit becomes available, no matter how long it takes. The tenant cannot be forced to look for a one-bedroom apartment on his or her own—a virtual impossibility in New York City. This is a huge protection IPNTA won.

There is also the possibility that some tenants will receive waivers to remain in their apartments because of medical or other reasons deemed acceptable to HPD.

3) Non-voucher tenants: Tenants who do not qualify for vouchers will pay rents basically in accord with Rent Stabilization, the program governing most rental units in New York City (including M-L projects inhabited before 1974).

Under Rent Stabilization, the Rent Guidelines Board sets rent changes—always increases—for one-year and two-year leases. Currently, the increase is 4.5% for a one-year lease, and 7% for a two-year lease. These rents will begin two months after the owner exits from Mitchell-Lama.

By the 9th anniversary of the landlord’s exit, the rent will rise an additional 3.33 percent above Rent Stabilization guidelines. That will be the case for the 10th and 11th anniversaries as well. After that, each year the rent will rise only 1 percent above Rent Stabilization. Because of the way Rent Stabilization guidelines work. in those years tenants may be advised to take one yaer leases in each of those years.

Non-voucher tenants are further protected from so-called “luxury decontrol.” Under Rent Stabilization, if someone’s rent ultimately rises to $2,000 a month, and the tenant earns more than $175,000 for two years in a row, that tenant loses all protections; the rent soars to market rate.

This will not happen at IPN. Our contract prevents this type of decontrol. It’s another protection won by IPNTA.

4) Succession: If a tenant leaves the apartment, for any reason, the unit will go to a family member (spouse, child, sibling, parent, grandparent, and registered domestic partner) who is at least 18 years old and has lived there for the past two years. And there’s no penalty if the person was away from home as a full time student, hospitalized, or in the military.

A second succession will only be available to an adult child of a spouse or registered domestic partner, if that spouse or partner was the original “succeeding” tenant.

5) No switching: All tenants, regardless of income, will fill out a voucher application. The federal government will determine who is eligible. Once you receive a sticky voucher, you cannot switch to non-voucher status, no matter how high your income rises. Likewise, once you are denied a voucher at IPN, you will not be eligible to receive one here, even if your income falls.

6) Garage: Unfortunately, parking fees will revert to market prices, although gradually over the next four or five years. As soon as the opt-out is completed, garage fees will rise to $200 a month. Each year thereafter, the fee will rise an additional $75 a month, until it reaches market level.

Although IPNTA was not able to keep garage prices as affordable as apartments, we have delayed market rate hikes for several years. In all other owner buyouts, garage prices went immediately to market level.

7) All tenants: We will continue to have access to our community rooms at 310 Greenwich and 80 N. Moore.

Also, the landlord may choose to switch to individual electric metering, which means that tenants would have to pay Con Ed bills. If this happens, rents should decrease by a certain amount.

In good standing: Remember, all these protections and provisions apply only to tenants in good standing. That means your apartment must be your primary residence, you must be current in rent, you must not be, or rent to, an illegal sublet, and the like. Tenants who are not in good standing will be subject to eviction proceedings.

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