The Newburgh City Council voted unanimously to declare a housing emergency in the City of Newburgh on Monday, December 18. The declaration now moves the city forward to opt into rent stabilization under the Emergency Tenant Protection Act (ETPA) of 1974 and the creation of a city rent control board.

Beginning Tuesday, December 19, according to Michelle Kelson, the city council will have 30 days to make recommendations to the New York State Division of Home and Community Renewal (DHCR) for a rent guidelines board that will be established and help determine the percentage rent increases.

“The council will receive those applications. They make recommendations to the state, the state actually makes the appointment to the rent guidelines board,” said Kelson. “It is a nine person board appointed by the Commissioner of Housing and Community Renewal upon the recommendation of the city council. The board consists of two members who are representative of tenants, two members who are representative of owners of property and five public members each of whom shall have at least five years of experience in either finance, economics or housing.”

Applicants to this board must be residents of the City of Newburgh, said Kelson. For those interested in serving on the board, board requirements and applications are to be made available by the city. The deadline for applications will be due by January 2, 2024 in order to be reviewed at the city council work session in the new year.

“I want to say congratulations to the people of the City of Newburgh and their voices have been heard and the vote has been counted,” said Mayor Torrance Harvey.

The city council faced similar tensions regarding housing legislation back during a city council meeting in October 2021 where the council passed legislation known as Good Cause Eviction. The Good Cause Eviction law is a law that protects tenants in the city from eviction without a good cause or reason from their landlord while also protecting the tenant from rent increases. However, failures to pay rent, property damage and violation of agreements can lead to eviction. The law was later struck down in the Orange County Supreme Court in November 2022 and ruled null and void.

DHCR defines rent stabilization as a system of rent regulation under state law that protects tenants from illegal rent increases. Outside of New York City, rent stabilization is known as the law ETPA, the law that controls the system. With ETPA, rent stabilized tenants are receptive to required services, can renew leases and are protected from eviction. However, the protection from eviction changes based on grounds allowed by law.

The ETPA’s adoption was only possible in the counties of Westchester, Rockland and Nassau. The Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act of 2019 (HSTPA) changed the demographic restrictions and now allows municipalities across New York to opt into ETPA. The City of Kingston, a little over 30 miles from Newburgh, is the only municipality listed in the Hudson Valley area to have opted into ETPA. Municipalities do have the ability to opt out of ETPA but must complete certain steps in order to do so.

The city conducted and released its rental vacancy study back in November which found a 3.93% vacancy rate for eligible city properties. Under ETPA, because this number is less than 5%, the city can move to declare a housing emergency and opt into rent stabilization. The entire study is available to the public to view on the city website. The ETPA generally applies to residential buildings within the municipality that contain six or more units that were constructed before the year 1974. If passed by city council, landlords of 68 eligible properties across Newburgh (738 units) would temporarily be barred from raising rents or evicting tenants without good cause.

Under ETPA, landlords of rent regulated apartments are required to do the following: submit documentation to the DHCR each year that captures registration statements for rent regulated apartments and survey data of landlord income and expenses; landlords are limited to increasing rents by the set percentages; landlords are obligated to offer to each tenant one or two-year renewal leases prior to the tenants current lease unless there is a valid basis for eviction and landlords are required to maintain their rent regulated apartments or face rent reductions and civil penalties.