Bill Text: NY A05988 | 2021-2022 | General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Imposes a fee on landlords who have residential dwelling units which remain vacant for a period greater than three months and deposits such fee into a fund to provide housing vouchers for homeless individuals.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-01-05 - referred to housing [A05988 Detail]
Download: New_York-2021-A05988-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 5988 2021-2022 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY March 4, 2021 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. L. ROSENTHAL -- read once and referred to the Committee on Housing AN ACT in relation to enacting the End Warehousing act of 2021; and to amend the public housing law and the state finance law, in relation to establishing a database of affordable vacant dwelling units and allo- cating such units The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. The End Warehousing act of 2021 is hereby enacted to read 2 as follows: 3 END WAREHOUSING ACT OF 2021 4 Section 1. Short title. 5 2. Legislative findings. 6 3. Housing emergency. 7 4. Database of vacant affordable apartments. 8 5. Tax abatements. 9 6. Allocation of vacant apartments. 10 7. Compensation of owners for allocation. 11 Section 1. Short title. This act shall be known and may be cited as 12 the "End Warehousing act of 2021". 13 § 2. Legislative findings. The legislature hereby finds and declares 14 that a serious housing and health emergency continues to exist in the 15 state of New York with over ninety thousand homeless individuals on any 16 given night. As recognized by the federal government, homelessness 17 during the COVID-19 pandemic makes this issue a health emergency as 18 well; thus, it is necessary to expeditiously provide housing for as many 19 homeless individuals as possible. 20 The legislature further finds that there are thousands of empty 21 affordable apartments in the state of New York not being offered for 22 rent. Therefore, this End Warehousing act of 2021 requires that the 23 state: declare a housing and health emergency; create a database of EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD09667-01-1A. 5988 2 1 existing vacant affordable apartments; require owner registration of 2 vacant apartments in such database; provide for penalties for owners who 3 fail to register vacant apartments; and allocate vacant apartments to 4 those with housing vouchers. 5 § 3. Housing emergency. As long as there are at least fifty thousand 6 homeless individuals for seven consecutive nights in the state of New 7 York, the state shall declare and maintain a housing and health emergen- 8 cy during which the provisions of this act shall be in effect. 9 § 4. Database of vacant affordable apartments. a. The division of 10 housing and community renewal shall establish and maintain a public 11 database of all residential dwelling units that have been vacant for at 12 least three months in the state of New York pursuant to subdivision 13 eight of section fourteen of the public housing law. The owner of any 14 buildings with at least four residential dwelling units shall register 15 with the database, under penalty of perjury, all units: 16 (i) that have been vacant for at least three months; 17 (ii) whose last tenant paid a rent that was rent stabilized, rent 18 controlled, administered by a state or local section eight administering 19 agency, or an amount of rent which was charged with the approval of a 20 federal, state or local governmental agency; and 21 (iii) that the owner is not offering for rent at a legal rate or less. 22 b. The division shall establish a filing fee of no less than two 23 hundred dollars for each dwelling unit registered. Such fees shall be 24 collected and deposited in the housing allocation compensation fund 25 under section ninety-nine-ii of the state finance law. Such fees shall 26 be used for compensation of owners for allocation of vacant dwelling 27 units pursuant to section seven of this act and fees that are not used 28 for such compensation of owners may be used as general funds for the 29 division of housing and community renewal. 30 c. If the registration of a dwelling unit that was registered the 31 previous calendar year has not been submitted, the division shall send a 32 letter to the owner of the building asking how long the apartment has 33 been vacant and notifying the owner of the vacant dwelling unit regis- 34 tration requirements of this section. 35 d. An owner who fails to register a residential dwelling unit for more 36 than three months after it has become vacant shall be fined two thousand 37 dollars each month such unit is not registered for the first three 38 months and three thousand dollars for each successive month that such 39 vacant unit is not registered. 40 e. Any individual or organization may report a vacancy of over three 41 months to the division of housing and community renewal. 42 § 5. Tax abatements. Any tax abatements currently in effect for the 43 benefit of the subject premises shall be continued only if vacant apart- 44 ments subject to rent regulation are offered for rent. 45 § 6. Allocation of vacant apartments. a. The division of housing and 46 community renewal shall make available to rent the vacant residential 47 dwelling units in such municipality to those individuals having federal 48 housing choice vouchers. 49 b. An owner of a building may petition the division of housing and 50 community renewal for a waiver of the allocation of a dwelling unit if 51 such owner can produce any necessary permits, documented funding and/or 52 a contract or other work agreement that demonstrate that such dwelling 53 unit is vacant due to substantial renovations that render such unit 54 uninhabitable. No waiver shall be granted under this subdivision where 55 substantial renovations causing a dwelling unit to be vacant are: (i) 56 estimated to take longer, or have taken longer, than three months to beA. 5988 3 1 completed, or (ii) being performed on a unit with an outstanding hazard- 2 ous violation pursuant to the code of the local municipality, unless 3 such renovations are being performed to cure such violation. 4 c. An owner of a building located in a city with a population of one 5 million or more may petition the division of housing and community 6 renewal for a waiver of the registration fee imposed pursuant to section 7 four of this act if the commissioner of the division of housing and 8 community renewal has approved a hardship application from such owner. 9 No waiver shall be granted under this subdivision where: (i) the build- 10 ing is owned by a limited liability corporation; (ii) the owner owns or 11 manages more than two buildings with at least twelve residential dwell- 12 ing units; or (iii) the owner owns or manages any residential dwelling 13 units with an open hazardous violation pursuant to the code of the local 14 municipality. 15 § 7. Compensation of owners for allocation. a. Monies from the housing 16 allocation compensation fund under section ninety-nine-ii of the state 17 finance law shall be used for the compensation of an owner of a building 18 with vacant residential dwelling units which have been allocated pursu- 19 ant to section six of this act. 20 b. The commissioner of the division of housing and community renewal 21 shall determine the amount of compensation based on the difference the 22 owner shall receive from the federal housing choice voucher and any 23 actual and documented additional value based on an audit of such vacant 24 dwelling unit for the previous five years. Any owner aggrieved by the 25 commissioner's determination of compensation may seek judicial review 26 pursuant to article seventy-eight of the civil practice law and rules in 27 the supreme court for the county in which the vacant dwelling unit is 28 located. 29 c. Compensation shall be approved pursuant to this section, except 30 where the owner owns or manages any residential dwelling unit with any 31 one or more of the following: 32 (i) an open hazardous violation pursuant to the code of the local 33 municipality; 34 (ii) the apartment became vacant as a result of harassment by the 35 owner; 36 (iii) the owner failed to register the subject dwelling unit with the 37 department of housing and community renewal; 38 (iv) the owner, landlord or agent thereof, was found guilty in a 39 nuisance action regarding activity in the dwelling unit; 40 (v) the owner, landlord or agent thereof, was subject to a criminal 41 action for harassment in the previous five years that was settled or 42 ruled against such owner, landlord or agent thereof; 43 (vi) the dwelling unit is vacant due to the intentional or negligent 44 action or inaction of the owner, landlord or agent thereof; 45 (vii) the premises of the vacant dwelling unit have been subject to a 46 rent reduction order issued by the division of housing and community 47 renewal in the previous five years; 48 (viii) the premises of the vacant dwelling unit have open violations 49 for work, contrary to a plan or without a permit; 50 (ix) the owner, landlord or agent thereof, has been cited in the 51 previous five years for failure to file documentation legally required 52 by any municipal building department certifying that construction at the 53 premises of the vacant dwelling unit is safe for building residents; 54 (x) the premises of the vacant dwelling unit is subject to a regulato- 55 ry agreement and was cited for not adhering to the terms of such agree- 56 ment;A. 5988 4 1 (xi) in a city having a population of one million or more, the prem- 2 ises of the vacant dwelling unit applied for but was denied a certif- 3 icate of no harassment or other documentation which is required to 4 change building classification; and 5 (xii) six months after the expiration of the state disaster emergency 6 declared pursuant to executive order 202 of 2020, any building where 7 more than five percent of all units, regardless of classification, are 8 vacant at any time within the previous five years. 9 § 2. Section 14 of the public housing law is amended by adding a new 10 subdivision 8 to read as follows: 11 8. (a) The commissioner shall establish and maintain a public data- 12 base of all residential dwelling units that have been vacant for at 13 least three months in the state of New York, pursuant to section four of 14 the End Warehousing act of 2021. 15 (b) The owner of any buildings with at least four residential dwelling 16 units shall register with the database, under penalty of perjury, all 17 units: 18 (i) that have been vacant for at least three months; 19 (ii) whose last tenant paid a rent that was rent stabilized, rent 20 controlled, administered by a state or local section eight administering 21 agency, or an amount of rent which was charged with the approval of a 22 federal, state or local governmental agency; and 23 (iii) that the owner is not offering for rent at a legal rate or less. 24 § 3. The state finance law is amended by adding a new section 99-ii to 25 read as follows: 26 § 99-ii. Housing voucher assistance allocation compensation fund. 1. 27 There is hereby established in the joint custody of the state comp- 28 troller, the commissioner of housing and community renewal and the 29 commissioner of taxation and finance a fund to be known as the housing 30 allocation compensation fund. 31 2. Such fund shall consist of all moneys appropriated for the purpose 32 of such fund, moneys collected pursuant to section four of the End Ware- 33 housing act of 2021 and all other moneys transferred to such fund pursu- 34 ant to law. Any interest earned by the investment of moneys in such fund 35 shall be added to such fund, become a part of such fund, and be used for 36 the purpose of such fund. 37 3. Monies of the fund shall be expended only by the division of hous- 38 ing and community renewal for the compensation of an owner of a building 39 with vacant dwelling units that have been allocated pursuant to section 40 six of the End Warehousing act of 2021. 41 4. Monies shall be payable from the fund on the audit and warrant of 42 the comptroller on vouchers approved and certified by the commissioner 43 of housing and community renewal. 44 § 4. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall 45 have become a law. Effective immediately, the addition, amendment and/or 46 repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the implementation of 47 this act on its effective date are authorized to be made and completed 48 on or before such effective date.
