HOBOKEN — A year-long heated battle over amendments to Hoboken’s 38-year-old Rent Control Ordinance resulted in a public referendum on Tuesday. The results: 3,349 people voted to keep the amendments approved by the City Council earlier this year. 1,484 voted to repeal those amendments.
Hoboken’s Rent Control Ordinance, first enacted in 1973, limits the amount a landlord can raise the rent each year to a few percent (depending on economic indicators). There are exceptions built in for landlords who make improvements and other matters. The law currently applies to most apartments built before 1987.
A group of property owners felt the law was outdated in certain respects. For two years, a City Council committee worked on potential changes.
A main change would limit the number of years for which a renter could be reimbursed if he or she discovers he or she has been paying an illegally jacked up rent. Landlords have said that the city did not keep accurate rent records.
After the City Council voted unanimously to change the law earlier this year, tenant advocates launched a campaign to get voters to vote “YES” to repeal the changes. A group of property owners launched a campaign to get out the “NO” vote to keep the changes. That effort included flyers that were handed out on election day.
The final totals were, NO (to keep the changes), 3,349 votes. YES (to repeal), 1,563, according to the Hoboken clerk’s office.
Absentee ballots went 561 for NO and 79 for YES, showing that the heaviest campaigning in advance was for the NO side, the property owners.
For more detailed stories on the matter, see links below.
What do you think? Comment below.
Hoboken rent control vote
machine, yes 1,484 no 2,788 … absentee vote, yes 79 no 561 no provisional
total is yes 1, 563, no 3,349…
30/36 83.33%
Vote Count Percent
– Yes 1,421 34.71%
– No 2,673 65.29%
Total 4,094 100.00%