{"id":389,"date":"2026-07-06T18:54:43","date_gmt":"2026-07-06T18:54:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businessrelocationdigest.com\/?p=389"},"modified":"2026-07-06T18:54:43","modified_gmt":"2026-07-06T18:54:43","slug":"with-progressive-momentum-on-their-side-tenant-advocates-see-hope-for-the-rest-act-next-session","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businessrelocationdigest.com\/?p=389","title":{"rendered":"With progressive momentum on their side, tenant advocates see hope for the REST Act next session"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Tenants\u2019 rights groups see a clearer path to pass key pieces of their agenda, like statewide rent control, next year after progressive candidates they backed won recent primary races outside New York City and housing affordability stays top-of-mind for voters.<\/p>\n

Read more Opinion: Why Block by Block matters for New York\u2019s future homeowners<\/a><\/p>\n

Housing advocates like Xaver Kandler, political director with For the Many, are working to build on the momentum currently giving progressive and democratic socialist candidates an edge \u2013 momentum only further aided by the New York City Rent Guidelines Board\u2019s approval of a one-year rent freeze last month.\u00a0 \u201cThe No. 1 thing stopping gentrification right now in New York City is rent stabilization \u2013 it\u2019s the No. 1 thing keeping people in their homes,\u201d Kandler, told City & State.<\/p>\n

Current law allows localities outside New York City to adopt rent stabilization, or place an annual limit on rent hikes, if they declare a state of housing emergency, or demonstrate a housing vacancy rate of 5% or less, through a vacancy study.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Several Democrats in the Legislature this past session had their sights set on the Rent Emergency Stabilization for Tenants, or REST Act, that would allow localities to use more public data and tools to declare a housing emergency, like rates of homelessness or eviction rates, rather than a costly study.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Democratic socialist candidates Maurice \u201cMo\u201d Brown, who narrowly defeated incumbent Assembly Member Bill Magnarelli in Syracuse, and Adam Bojak, who was victorious in a Democratic Assembly primary in Western New York, both back the REST Act. The two Democratic nominees, who were endorsed by a coalition of tenant activists known as the New York State Tenant Bloc, argue the issue could sway voters struggling to make rent payments. Kandler said housing advocates called on Magnarelli to sign onto the REST Act, but never did.<\/p>\n

\u201cFundamentally, our tenants need help, and I want to bring that help,\u201d Brown said. \u201cThe REST Act is one of the ways our state government can intervene in the conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kingston, where Kandler lives, is the only municipality outside the five boroughs to have rent stabilization, but litigation challenging the policy threatens to upend it. \u201cThe REST Act would actually allow all these municipalities to enact rent stabilization and keep tenants in their homes and stabilize communities, especially in the Hudson Valley,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Read more Opinion: The Knicks won. Their fans lost their privacy. It\u2019s time to ban the scan.<\/a><\/p>\n

There could be an appetite for tenant protections in Syracuse beyond the REST Act, though. The Syracuse Common Council failed to pass the \u201cgood cause\u201d eviction law earlier this spring, but with recent election victories for progressives in the Central New York city, Brown said the council now has a clearer path to expand tenant protections through good cause.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Dutchess County Legislator Lisa Kaul just won the Democratic primary to challenge state Sen. Rob Rolison in November, a race where housing affordability is expected to be a top issue,Kaul supports the REST Act, but sees it as a piece of a larger puzzle to solve the housing crisis. \u201cWe have to literally throw every single thing that we have and use every tool in our toolbox to make sure that people stay in their homes,\u201d said Kaul, a self-described progressive Democrat. \u201cOnce people are forced to leave their homes, that\u2019s the first domino to fall that makes it much more expensive for county government and the state to provide for people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rolison could not immediately be reached for comment.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But Housing Providers of New York State Executive Director Rich Lanzarone said the REST Act wasn\u2019t as close to crossing the finish line this past session as some housing advocates might have the public to believe.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not going to name legislators, but I had Democrats \u2013 influential Democratic legislators \u2013 tell me that they\u2019re not on board with this,\u201d Lanzarone told City & State. \u201cIt didn\u2019t have the support in either chamber and it won\u2019t have the support going forward, either.\u201d<\/p>\n

Landlords and opposing groups were successful in killing the bill in the last days of session, even though Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie indicated that legislative leaders were on board with bringing the measure to the floor. Landlords have worked hard to sway moderate Democrats to not believe the hype, and to convince them that rent stabilization will deter investors in upstate communities and will make maintaining existing buildings not financially viable. Lanzarone cited 2022 data that shows New York City landlords kept more than 60,000 rent-stabilized apartments off the market, which ultimately made an existing housing crisis even worse.<\/p>\n

\u201cCapping rents without capping costs, it doesn’t work,\u201d he said.\u00a0 \u201cIt doesn’t work for anyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more How Ritchie Torres, diehard Israel supporter, easily survived a brutal primary cycle<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On the heels of the primaries, is there more of an appetite upstate for rent stabilization?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":388,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,22,92],"tags":[16,24,93],"class_list":["post-389","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-albany-agenda","category-housing","category-politics","tag-albany-agenda","tag-housing","tag-politics"],"yoast_head":"\nWith progressive momentum on their side, tenant advocates see hope for the REST Act next session - Business Relocation Digest<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/businessrelocationdigest.com\/?p=389\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"With progressive momentum on their side, tenant advocates see hope for the REST Act next session - 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