New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and New York City Mayor Eric Adams on Tuesday welcomed the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) not to hear challenges to New York’s rent stabilization laws that impose strict rules on how landlords can lease some apartment units in the state.
“I am relieved that the Supreme Court has denied petitions for certiorari in three cases that threatened New York’s nation-leading rent protections,” Hochul said. “Our rent stabilization laws, which were first passed nearly six decades ago and reaffirmed consistently by lower courts since, remain some of our state’s most powerful tools to fight inequality, preserve affordability, and keep New Yorkers safely housed in their own communities.
“As governor, I will continue doing everything in my power to ensure these laws are protected,” she vowed.
Adams said the city was “pleased that the US Supreme Court has denied the remaining petitions challenging New York’s rent stabilization laws.
“For 50 years, rent stabilization has kept rents affordable for millions of New Yorkers and their families,” he said. “Today, tenants can breathe a sigh of relief.
“As this administration tackles the city’s affordability crisis from all angles, we remain committed to defending New York’s rent stabilization laws, so tenants can afford to stay in their homes and communities,” Adams added.
According to CNN, the pair of cases were brought by owners of apartment buildings or individual units that are subject to the laws.
“The challengers had asked the justices to overturn the rent regime that has governed more than one million units in the city for decades and provided some of the nation’s most tenant-friendly rules,” it said, adding that Conservative Justice Clarence Thomas said “the high court should consider the questions that were raised in this appeal in a future case.”
In October last year, when SCROTUS rejected a challenge to the city’s rent stabilization, Public Advocate Jumaane Williams said he was “relieved” about the decision, stating that it was “an unconscionable effort by landlords to further put profit over people and exacerbate the housing and homelessness crisis.
“Even with a Rent Guidelines Board that, under this mayoral administration, has inexplicably continued to raise rents in an affordability crisis, our rent stabilization system and the protections that come with it are invaluable and indispensable,” Williams, the son of Grenadian immigrants, told Caribbean Life at the time.
“With two similar cases still pending, I remain wary, and hope that the court will reject these challenges, which would undo decades of precedent and ultimately force countless New Yorkers from their homes in a city that already has the highest rents in the nation,” he added.
