The Common Council of Kingston, New York, approved a resolution to declare a housing emergency and enact the “Emergency Tenant Protection Act” (ETPA) on July 28. Under ETPA, rents for certain properties will be frozen, with increases determined annually by a Rent Guidelines Board. ETPA will also ensure that residents in covered units receive essential services and some protections from eviction. An estimated 1,300 units are covered under the new law, which applies to buildings with six or more units that were constructed prior to 1974. ETPA was signed into law by Mayor Steven T. Noble on July 29 and went into effect immediately.
The State of New York first passed the Emergency Tenant Protection Act in 1974. However, the act only applied to New York City and its surrounding suburbs. In 2019, New York passed the “Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act,” which allowed any city to adopt rent control by declaring a housing emergency and demonstrating it had a vacancy rate below 5%. In 2020, Kingston contracted the Center for Governmental Research to conduct a rental housing study, which determined the vacancy rate in the city to be 6.7%. Tenant activists criticized the study’s results, claiming they were manipulated by real estate developers. Kingston’s Director of Housing Initiatives then completed another vacancy study between April and May of 2022, which found the vacancy rate in qualifying units was 1.57%. The Common Council subsequently held a public hearing about declaring a housing emergency and ultimately passed the resolution with a 7-1 vote.
Like many cities across the country, Kingston has seen rapidly increasing rents and a limited supply of rental housing, particularly housing that is affordable to people living on the lowest incomes. The city has taken other steps in recent years to protect renters at-risk of displacement and expand access to affordable housing, including establishing inclusionary zoning, passing a good cause eviction law, and establishing regulations for short-term rentals. The city is also currently in the process of updating its zoning code.
“I am pleased to be able to codify this legislation and to implement these tenant protections here in Kingston,” said Mayor Noble. “We have known we have a housing crisis in Kingston, and this is yet another step we are taking to protect our residents and make sure that everyone who wishes to live in Kingston is able to.”
Advocates hope that Kingston’s adoption of rent stabilization will encourage other Hudson Valley and upstate communities to follow suit but concede that ultimately state and federal funding and policies are necessary. For the Many, a local housing justice organization, mobilized tenants to attend the public hearing and reach out to their elected officials about enacting ETPA. It and other community groups are now working to make sure that tenants in ETPA-eligible buildings are aware of their new rights and that landlords are not taking advantage of the confusion. They are also working to ensure that pro-tenant candidates are appointed to the Rent Guidelines Board.
“We applaud Mayor Steve Noble and the Kingston Council for taking this step to protect housing affordability,” said Jonathan Bix, executive director of For the Many. “This will benefit long-term residents, whether owners or renters. The only people this won’t help are corporate landlords.”
The New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal (DHCR) administers ETPA throughout New York. It is responsible for contacting the owners of properties covered under ETPA to inform them of their rights and obligations under the law. Based on recommendations from Kingston’s Common Council, it will also appoint nine people – two tenants, two property owners, and five members of the public – to the Rent Guidelines Board. The Board will first meet in September 2022 and, working with DHCR, will determine annual allowable rent increases for units covered under ETPA. DHCR and the City of Kingston will conduct information sessions about ETPA for tenants and landlords.
For more information about ETPA and its implementation in Kingston, please contact Bartek Starodaj, director of housing initiatives, at [email protected]. For more information about For the Many, please contact Brahvan Ranga, the organization’s political director, at [email protected].