Seth Miller Testifies Before the City Council

On December 16, 2009 Seth Miller testified on behalf of the Mitchell Lama Residents Coalition, before the City Council Committee on Housing and Buildings.  The Committee was holding an oversight hearing on HPD’s supervision of Mitchell Lama housing.

After laying out HPD’s long history of cutting private deals with landlords instead of enforcing the requirement that prevents J-51 assisted developments from buying out of Mitchell Lama unless they first register all apartments as rent stabilized, Seth offered the following legislative recommendations:

1.     Make enforcement of the J-51 ordinance mandatory rather than discretionary;

2.     Provide for penalties against landlords who fail to register their J-51 assisted apartments as stabilized;

3.     Require that the City collect the ten dollar per apartment fee for registering stabilized apartments, including J-51 assisted apartments, and promptly commence tax foreclosure proceedings against noncompliant landlords; and

4.     Bar landlords from communicating privately with HPD concerning any aspect of the privatization of Mitchell Lama developments, the setting of rents for privatized developments, and, in all types of buildings, the continued receipt of J-51 benefits.