City Council extends rent stabilization

The City Council has
approved a three-year extension of rent stabilization. The extension of
rent regulation can only be approved by the City Council if the city is
in a state of “housing emergency,” which is defined by a vacancy rate
of less than 5 percent. The city’s vacancy rate is about 2.88 percent,
based on figures between February and June 2008, down from 3.09 percent
from the last survey during the same period in 2005. Some housing advocates say this is the
first step in preserving affordable housing, and that they plan to lobby the
state government to repeal vacancy decontrol, which allows vacant
stabilized apartments to become market rate.

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