Housing Committee  - Meets with Senator Brian Kavanagh: 

On August 21, VID’s Housing Committee and leadership met with State Senator Brian Kavanagh (27th District), Chair of the Senate Housing Committee, to discuss tenant protections, affordable housing, and priorities for the 2026 legislative session.

Key topics included:

• The state’s extraordinary rental assistance (2020–2023) during Covid

• Success of the 2019 HSTPA, preserving 1M NYC rent-regulated apartments

• New laws (2024) expanding SCRIE for seniors and creating the HAVP rental voucher program

• The impact—and limits—of the Good Cause Eviction law

• Decisions facing NYCHA and its 180,000 affordable units

• Warehousing of rental apartments

• City of Yes commercial-to-residential conversions

• The uncertain effect of 421-a’s replacement, 485-x

• Possible supports for small landlords

• The so-far failed effort to pass a pied-à-terre/vacancy tax

• What a Mamdani mayoralty might mean for housing and property tax reform

Thank you to Senator Kavanagh and his staff for an engaging, energetic discussion, and to Jonathan Geballe (VID Housing Chair) for organizing. Attendees included: Sara Kimbell (VID co-President), Kathy Slawinski, Jamie Vazquez, Tony Hoffmann, Alec Pruchnicki, and Ed Yutkowitz. 

 The next VID Housing Committee meeting will be on Monday, Sept. 8 at 6:30 pm. Contact Jonathan Geballe at [email protected] for details.