Dear Editor:
On Election Day there will likely be an anti-rent control initiative question on the ballot. It is imperative that residents that support and/or are protected by rent control (RC) not be fooled by any deceptive tactics used by MSTA, the landlord/developer/real estate interests’ group that are sponsoring this initiative.
MSTA included the following “public question” on their petition which they might demand be the wording used on the ballot:
“Shall the city of Hoboken continue annual rental increase protections for current tenants of rent controlled properties but allow property owners to negotiate rents for vacant apartments and exempt buildings with one-to-four units and condominium units from the rent leveling ordinance by adopting the proposed amendment to Chapter 155 of the Code of the City of Hoboken.”
Should voters that support rent protections mistakenly read only the first few words (“Shall the city of Hoboken continue annual rent increase protections for current tenants…”) they might inadvertently vote for the initiative thinking that its purpose is to continue rent control protections. This confusing and deceptive ballot language is menacingly similar to the MSTA tactic used during the last Hoboken election when they successfully sued the city to change the ballot wording forcing residents to vote ‘yes’ in order to say ‘no’ to bad rent control changes. We’ll never know how many citizens cast votes at odds with their intention.
At council meetings, MSTA’s paid consultant assures residents that all current tenants will be protected if this initiative passes, stating that units are exempted or decontrolled only after the current tenant voluntarily leaves or is evicted by court order. But, current tenants in 1-3 unit owner occupied buildings can be evicted at the end of their current lease without cause; tenants in larger buildings can be evicted by condo conversion. Others may experience subtle and hard to prove harassment. Clearly, rather than protecting current tenants, the initiative will give a strong incentive for evicting current tenants “by court order” in order to eliminate RC protections and jack-up the rent for new tenants.
We’ve heard reports that some tenants signed the MSTA petition because they believed it was a petition in support of RC and that petitioners claimed that the petition was for “fair housing” which coincidentally mirrors the name of the local tenant organization that is opposing the harmful RC initiative: Hoboken Fair Housing Association.
On November 6th, it is imperative that renters aren’t fooled into voting against their own interests. To be clear, current tenants are not protected by the MSTA initiative. The initiative actually makes them an eviction target since once they vacate, the landlord is assured a financial windfall and subsequent rents will be jacked-up beyond anything that the average person can afford. Non-renting residents that don’t want to see their friends and neighbors pushed out of Hoboken must also not be fooled into thinking that the MSTA initiative is harmless. It puts a bull’s eye on every current tenant and must be voted down.
Visit HobokenFairHousing.com for ongoing information. To help get the word out, email us at: HobokenFairHousing@gmail.com
Sincerely;
Cheryl Fallick