Tenant advocacy groups and pro-landlord organizations found themselves united in their mutual disdain for a reported state budget housing deal.
Advocates reacted to several published reports on Friday highlighting the details of a likely housing deal between Gov. Kathy Hochul, state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie. Reaching an agreement that both boosts housing production and provides tenants with more safeguards has been perhaps the biggest stumbling block to passing a state spending plan, which is now two weeks past its April 1 deadline this year.
Lawmakers were back in Albany Monday to further negotiate a final deal on the Fiscal Year 2025 budget.
While tenant advocates voiced outrage that the reported housing deal caters too much to real estate interests and doesn’t do nearly enough to protect renters, pro-landlord groups argued that the deal is bad for them too, as it would weaken their ability to raise rents and recoup on investments they have made in their properties.