UPDATE, Jan. 29 2021, 12:25 p.m.: Say goodbye to gas stoves in new apartments.
During his State of the City address, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that the city will ban gas hookups in new construction by 2030, Politico reported. He first signaled his intention to ban gas last year, although the goal at the time was 2040.
The move is just one of the priorities that left-leaning groups, including New York Communities for Change, have been pushing candidates to commit to ahead of the mayoral primary in June.
“We want to see a deal between the mayor and the Council as soon as possible to pass this law and for it to go into effect just about immediately,” said NYCC’s Pete Sikora. “It’s a climate emergency and there’s no time to waste.”
In a statement earlier this week, Joseph Strasburg, president of the Rent Stabilization Association, criticized a City Council bill to accelerate the transition to No. 2 fuel oil and natural gas by 2025, calling the potential move a “financial weight that will crush cash-strapped landlords.”
“In the best of times, this would be economically onerous,” said Strasburg. “In the current climate, it would be crippling to owners.”
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Other cities have sought to limit natural gas hookups in recent years. In California, where cities may propose stringent ordinances pending state approval, Berkeley, San Jose and Menlo Park have all proposed natural gas bans.
Other items on the progressive Green New Deal wish list that could impact the real estate industry include mandating that the city pay to replace all gas stoves in rent-regulated housing, and fully funding and enforcing Local Law 97 to “clean up” both private and public large buildings, a law which mandated steep reductions in citywide greenhouse gases by 2030.
Changes to LL97 could also be coming at the state level. A proposal in Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s 2022 executive budget would give New York City building owners an alternative to meet emission caps, by letting them buy renewable energy credits outside the city to offset their properties’ greenhouse-gas emissions — a priority for the industry after the city passed LL97 in May 2019.
[Politico] — Georgia Kromrei
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this piece mischaracterized a quote from RSA’s Joseph Strasburg on a City Council bill that accelerates the transition away from natural gas.