Hello, my name is Lacey Tauber and I’m here to testify on behalf of Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso, in turn on behalf of Brooklyn tenants.
Members of the Board, I don’t have to tell you that times are hard, and Brooklynites are struggling. Almost 30% of Brooklyn tenants are severely rent burdened, paying 50% of their income or more on rent. We’re talking hundreds of thousands of people, including rent regulated tenants, right here in this borough who are choosing between paying their rent and affording essentials. Now you’re proposing an additional rent increase on top of last year’s, which was already the largest increase in a decade.
Meanwhile, the situation isn’t improving. Inflation is increasing the cost of everything else, making it even harder to make ends meet. Market rents are going up, landlords are warehousing thousands of rent regulated units, and housing construction is basically stalled, meaning when tenants are displaced or evicted, it’s very hard for them to find somewhere else to live in their community, this borough, or even this city.
Tenants who will face eviction because they can’t afford these increased rents are also unlikely to receive the representation in housing court to which they are entitled. When the eviction unfortunately happens, they will find a shelter system that has been stretched thin by the migrant crisis and the City’s inability to successfully connect long-term shelter residents to permanent housing.
Now is not the time to add more burden on the backs of our city’s renters. We need smart policies that add truly affordable housing in our communities and keep people in their homes. Instead, leadership in Albany and locally continually fails to act to address the housing crisis. So I’m here today to ask YOU to act – to reject the proposed rent increases and protect tenants in Brooklyn and across the city.
Today you should also have received a letter from the Borough Presidents of Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and the Bronx expressing their collective opposition to the proposed rent increases. The boroughs are united, and we hope that you will listen. Thank you.
