Posted by Leonard Steinberg on June 30th, 2015 The City Rent Guidelines Board ordered a freeze on rent hikes for rent stabilized apartments for the first time in history. It froze rents for 1-year leases and capped increases on 2-year leases at 2%. Real estate taxes are however rising around 13% and water-rates are rising… [Read More]
MAYOR DE BLASIO REVEALS HIS AFFORDABLE HOUSING PLAN
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on May 5th, 2014 Mayor De Blasio today revealed his bold affordable housing plan for New York, aiming to build at least 200,000 units over the next 10 years as opposed to the Bloomberg administration that built about 165,000 units in its 12 years. The plan calls for almost $42 billion… [Read More]
DOES AFFORDABLE HOUSING MEAN RENTAL HOUSING?
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on March 9th, 2014 As the cries for AFFORDABLE HOUSING grow in a city where labor, land and material costs keep escalating, it is probable that the only real solution for affordable housing is RENTAL housing. The percentage of new homes being built as rental apartments is at the highest level… [Read More]
AFFORDABLE HOUSING FOR WHOM?
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on February 11th, 2014 The gorgeous building housing CITY HALL restaurant at 131 Duane Street just sold for over $18 million: this sale highlights an issue that Mayor De Blasio needs to address related to AFFORDABLE HOUSING: The building houses 6 rent stabilized tenants who are supposedly paying an average of… [Read More]
IS NEW YORK CITY RENTAL LAND ANIMAL FARM?
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on April 6th, 2012 Do you pay a half or a third of the rent for the same apartment as your next door neighbor? Well, in New York there are some antiquated laws that allow this insanity (paid for by landlords, yet protected by some politicians whose only goal is re-election)…. [Read More]
THE 'TAXES' THAT, IF REDUCED, COULD BOOST OUR ECONOMY MORE THAN ANY OTHER
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on December 21st, 2011 There are certain essential expenses that Americans incur that are a form of taxation…..Here are two examples: GAS: The average American spends over $ 4,100/year on gasoline…..thats over 8% of their income! Now thats quite a tax. Gas prices are artificially high because of OPEC’s ability to… [Read More]
CHARLIE RANGEL AND RENT CONTROL
While aggressive evictions are reducing the number of rent-stabilized apartments in New York, Representative Charles B. Rangel enjoys 4 of them, including 3 adjacent units on the 16th floor overlooking Upper Manhattan in a building owned by one of New York’s premier real estate developers. The Harlem building where Representative Charles B. Rangel has four rent-stabilized units…. [Read More]