Gianaris bill would cut rent for NYCHA tenants with no gas
/
Legislation introduced by State Sen. Michael Gianiaris would provide rent relief to NYCHA tenants who experience gas or utility outages. The bill is a response to a situation at the Astoria Houses, where residents have been without gas for over a month.
AP Photo/Hans Pennink
By Rachel Vick
State Sen. Michael Gianaris says he will introduce legislation to cut the rent for NYCHA tenants who experience prolonged gas, heat, water and power outages, as has been the case for dozens of families in the Astoria Houses.
The NYCHA Utility Accountability Act would reduce rent payments by 10 percent for the duration of the outage. Tenants in at least 48 Astoria Houses apartments have gone without gas since Sept. 23.
“Monthslong utility outages are unacceptable for any New Yorker, whether in private or public housing,” Gianaris said. “NYCHA residents should not be expected to pay full rent, which typically includes utilities, when they are not receiving the service.”
The measure has the support of Astoria’s newly elected assemblymember, Zohran Mamdani.
Mamdani said he will sponsor the bill in the Assembly when he is sworn in Jan. 1. He said the rent reduction only scratches the surfaces of the reforms needed at New York City’s beleaguered public housing system.
“Only deep reforms to New York's housing policy can begin to correct this injustice,” Mamdani said. “But we can start by changing our priorities and providing our most vulnerable neighbors with the relief they need and deserve immediately.
After the gas outage at the Astoria Houses building, NYCHA provided households with a hot plate that was only good for cooking coffee and water, 87-year-old Rebecca Ford told the Eagle last month.
Ford said she had to dip into rent money to buy food for her and her grandson. She said she worried she would not get her gas restored by the holidays.
In addition to providing hotplates, they are coordinating with the Astoria Houses Residents Association, the nonprofit Urban Upbound and other city agencies to provide meal service options for residents, according to a NYCHA spokesperson.
“I go to my daughter’s for Thanksgiving; but for Christmas, I usually have my family here and I don’t think my stove will be working by then,” Ford said. “Do you know how long it took them to fix my bathroom? Over a year.”
NYCHA shut off the main gas valve to the building because of a serious leak, a NYCHA spokesperson said. They did not provide a timeline for restoration, but said that a multi-step repair during the COVID crisis will take time.
Fixing the gas means “shutting off the gas, visiting the units for a scope of the work needed, making necessary repairs, investigating for asbestos, getting permit and inspection approval from our city partners and then coordinating with utility company to safely turn the gas back on,” said a NYCHA spokesperson.
“Reducing or stopping rent payments would not speed up the process and would adversely affect NYCHA's ability to make repairs, as it would decrease NYCHA's day-to-day operating budget,” she added.
