Alongside two hundred tenants from across New York, we shut down The Real Estate Board of New York’s (REBNY) headquarters to demand they stop blocking much-needed tenant protections in the final state budget negotiations.
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Together, we marched to REBNY’s headquarters because tenants are tired of greedy landlords seeing us as ATMs, from whom they can squeeze out all the money possible without any consequences.
As a renter in Brooklyn who lives in a 3-unit home, I don’t have critical tenant protections like the proposed Good Cause eviction legislation that is currently being negotiated in Albany. When I ask for repairs, the homeowner takes a long time to address them. Sometimes I keep quiet out of fear of retaliation, like a very high increase in my rent, which is already high at $3,100 a month, or even worse – an eviction. As a month-to-month tenant without a lease, I do not have protections against an exorbitant rent increase or an unfair eviction. Good Cause would change that!
The real estate industry has spent $14 million trying to block these key tenant protections. They want more profits. They want to push us out of our homes and communities.
Today was important for tenants like me to show that we’ve had enough abuse from greedy landlords and the real estate industry.
We demand that Governor Kathy Hochul, Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, and Speaker Carl Heastie deliver for tenants in the final budget, so that families like mine can live with stability, in healthy homes, and without fear of excessive rent increases or evictions without justified causes.
New York is our home; we all deserve the freedom to stay and the freedom to thrive in our communities.
¡Sí se puede!
– Bernarda Torres, Make the Road NY member and tenant