Suzanimal
01-10-2019, 05:23 PM
:bigpoo:
Bill de Blasio: 'We Will Seize Their Buildings, and We Will Put Them in the Hands of a Community Nonprofit'
Fresh off proposing yesterday that private employers be required to provide their workers with 10 days of paid vacation, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio set his sights on a new target: property owners.
During his State of the City Address, delivered Thursday, de Blasio warned that the city will take action against landlord abuse, even if that means seizing private property.
"When a landlord tries to push out a tenant by making their home unlivable, a team of inspectors and law enforcement agents will be on the ground in time to stop it," the mayor said. If fines and penalties don't do the trick, then "we will seize their buildings, and we will put them in the hands of a community nonprofit that will treat tenants with the respect they deserve," he added.
But surely city officials won't have the time to find and punish each one of the city's bad landlords, right? Wrong. That's because de Blasio is creating a new agency devoted solely to landlord abuse: the Mayor's Office to Protect Tenants.
"The city's worst landlords will have a new sheriff to fear," de Blasio said, calling the new agency (which he created on the spot by signing an executive order) a "new arm of city government that will root out the worst landlord abuse."
As the New York Daily News notes, the city already has an Office of Tenant Advocate. However, it has not yet been funded, according to the Progressive Caucus of the New York City Council.
So what will the Office to Protect Tenants do? De Blasio didn't really explain, though his executive order says it will serve as a "central resource for tenants, social service agencies, advocacy organizations, legal services providers, landlords and management companies of affordable housing, and others on tenant issues," including "tenant harassment."
According to his office's website, De Blasio is "pursuing new local law to seize upwards of 40 of the most distressed multiple dwelling buildings annually and transition them to responsible, mission driven ownership." Passage of this legislation would presumably give the Office to Protect Tenants the authority to seize land.
...
It's worth noting that the worst landlord in New York isn't even a private landowner. In December, then-NYC Public Advocate Letitia James, who's since been sworn in as attorney general of New York State, put the city's own housing authority at the top of her "2018 NYC Landlord Watchlist."
De Blasio may have been alluding to this today when he said the Office to Protect Tenants "will hold every city agency…accountable for protecting tenants." Still, it's ironic that the mayor wants to seize private property when the real problems are happening in city-run buildings.
https://reason.com/blog/2019/01/10/bill-de-blasio-we-will-seize-their-build
Bill de Blasio: 'We Will Seize Their Buildings, and We Will Put Them in the Hands of a Community Nonprofit'
Fresh off proposing yesterday that private employers be required to provide their workers with 10 days of paid vacation, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio set his sights on a new target: property owners.
During his State of the City Address, delivered Thursday, de Blasio warned that the city will take action against landlord abuse, even if that means seizing private property.
"When a landlord tries to push out a tenant by making their home unlivable, a team of inspectors and law enforcement agents will be on the ground in time to stop it," the mayor said. If fines and penalties don't do the trick, then "we will seize their buildings, and we will put them in the hands of a community nonprofit that will treat tenants with the respect they deserve," he added.
But surely city officials won't have the time to find and punish each one of the city's bad landlords, right? Wrong. That's because de Blasio is creating a new agency devoted solely to landlord abuse: the Mayor's Office to Protect Tenants.
"The city's worst landlords will have a new sheriff to fear," de Blasio said, calling the new agency (which he created on the spot by signing an executive order) a "new arm of city government that will root out the worst landlord abuse."
As the New York Daily News notes, the city already has an Office of Tenant Advocate. However, it has not yet been funded, according to the Progressive Caucus of the New York City Council.
So what will the Office to Protect Tenants do? De Blasio didn't really explain, though his executive order says it will serve as a "central resource for tenants, social service agencies, advocacy organizations, legal services providers, landlords and management companies of affordable housing, and others on tenant issues," including "tenant harassment."
According to his office's website, De Blasio is "pursuing new local law to seize upwards of 40 of the most distressed multiple dwelling buildings annually and transition them to responsible, mission driven ownership." Passage of this legislation would presumably give the Office to Protect Tenants the authority to seize land.
...
It's worth noting that the worst landlord in New York isn't even a private landowner. In December, then-NYC Public Advocate Letitia James, who's since been sworn in as attorney general of New York State, put the city's own housing authority at the top of her "2018 NYC Landlord Watchlist."
De Blasio may have been alluding to this today when he said the Office to Protect Tenants "will hold every city agency…accountable for protecting tenants." Still, it's ironic that the mayor wants to seize private property when the real problems are happening in city-run buildings.
https://reason.com/blog/2019/01/10/bill-de-blasio-we-will-seize-their-build