Dear Editor:
I write to lend my support to those hoping to reject the City Council’s recent changes to our Rent Control Ordinance. These changes come on the heels of previous revisions that have substantially reduced the number of apartments eligible for rent control, accelerate the ultimate demise of rent control and the rich diversity that gave Hoboken its rich personality and texture.
My background and knowledge on this issue comes from having served as Chair of a City Council Task Force on Rent Control in the mid 1990’s and being a landlord in Hoboken with my wife for almost 20 years. Without a doubt, there have long been problems with our 38 year old rent control ordinance since it has barely been enforced and rarely updated since its enactment. Nonetheless, due to the majority of landlords that have followed the rules (on the honor system) or more often just simply doing the “right thing” (not knowing the rules), the ordinance has helped to provide much needed affordable housing. It is notable that when the ordinance was first enacted, Hoboken was not the widely popular place to live with exorbitantly priced real estate it is today. Hoboken, in 1973, was a promising working class city with aging infrastructure, a large influx of poor immigrants and the worst housing stock east of the Mississippi River. Rising national inflation rates drove many old cities like Hoboken to establish rent control to aid their large number of lower and lower middle class populations. The demographics have changed but the need for affordable housing remains today.
Local real estate interests are attempting to scare the community into accepting the “fair and balanced” changes to the rent ordinance claiming the revisions will increase property values, reduce taxes and prevent layoffs. Landlords and realtors decry the unjust and oppressive nature of the ordinance but the fact is that only a small number of landlords actually get “burned” from the current ordinance. As we learned from our work on the Council Task Force, the landlords that “suffer” are typically those who are caught imposing draconian rent increases and not doing their homework first.
The claims that rent control inhibits investment and reduces property values are obviously not familiar with Hoboken’s consistently high property values. Rather than instituting a revised ordinance for the financial gain of realtors and greedy landlords (while giving back nothing to tenants and would be renters), it makes more sense to improve the rent control ordinance by better educating residents and empowering Rent Control officials to enforce these laws. In the meantime, vote yes to repeal these unjust changes.
Hank Forrest