Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams released the following statement ahead of the Rent Guidelines Board's final vote, set for Wednesday evening, urging the board to freeze rents on one and two year leases for rent-regulated units.
"I have long joined tenants in urging and fighting for protections and relief, and I have seen rents continue to rise, forcing New Yorkers out of their homes. Housing injustices, particularly for black and brown communities, have long been rampant. Now, the affordable housing and homelessness crisis has compounded with the COVID-19 health and economic crises, more instances where communities of more color and lower income communities are disproportionately harmed. While it would be an error not to acknowledge and address each mounting crisis in its own complexities, it would also be a failure not to see them as deeply interconnected, each a part of why we protest. Policing injustices brought us out of our homes - rising rents will keep us out.
"As the Governor has refused to cancel rents in this time of crisis, even while we try to find relief for responsible owners, the Rent Guidelines Board has an opportunity to meet the moment and provide some level of relief and justice for tenants struggling against a tide of threats and injustices. The weight of this pandemic in particular will be felt long beyond this moment, or one year, or two. The Board should respond with a full rent freeze, and I implore them to hear and heed the voices of tenants in their vote tonight."
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