Leaders of the New York Apartment Association have read the room.
The new group, formed by the merger of the Rent Stabilization Association and the Community Housing Improvement Program, is positioning itself as focused on promoting a “healthy relationship between renters and housing providers.”
Its braintrust has realized that emphasizing the needs of property owners does not play well with lawmakers, let alone renters. Improving relationships and promoting quality, affordable housing is an easier sell.
The group’s leader should know: Kenny Burgos is at the helm, after stepping down from his Assembly seat in July.
Burgos said CHIP and RSA did an “excellent job” advocating for their members over the decades, but “like everything in life, things change, things evolve.”
He is hopeful that tenants and lawmakers will see that the interests of property owners and renters align in key ways.
“Our owners want to rent to people, they want to make sure their buildings are economically viable, that housing is affordable and abundant,” Burgos said in an interview. “I would be willing to bet that any tenant advocate group would want the same.”
The NYAA’s website indicates that it will “provide education and support to renters and housing so they know their rights and responsibilities.”
Renters, however, are not paying the group’s dues, nor are they represented on its board. How the NYAA balances its stated mission with the priorities of its members remains to be seen, but at least one tenant group believes little will change.
Cea Weaver, coordinator for Housing Justice for All, a coalition backed by the Democratic Socialists of America, said the landlord group’s “primary objective is, and always has been, raising rents for New Yorkers.”
“Tenants are half the state,” she said in a statement. “We won’t be misled by flashy rhetoric designed to mask the real estate industry’s true agenda: profiting off our backs.”
Pendulum swings
In the years leading up to the 2019 rent law, real estate was seen as politically toxic, with many elected officials spurning donations from the industry.
That seems to have changed during the Adams and Hochul administrations, as the mayor and governor have both pushed some of the industry’s policy priorities and publicly pledged their support at real estate events. A push to build housing has gained strength in many states and even become part of Democrats’ national agenda.
New York state lawmakers this year allowed owners of some vacant, rent-stabilized apartments to recoup more of the cost of renovations, but CHIP and RSA called the reform woefully insufficient.
Their new group is continuing a number of CHIP’s legislative priorities, including the creation of a state-based housing voucher program, a housing court mediation program and a government-based insurance fund. The NYAA also wants property tax reform and more help paying for renovations, though its agenda does not specifically mention CHIP’s vacancy reset bill.
State ethics rules bar Burgos from lobbying the legislature for two years, but he told City & State he will still help set the group’s legislative agenda and work with owners on compliance and other issues.
Different approaches
In recent years, CHIP’s leadership had tried to broaden its appeal, emphasizing its members’ role in housing New Yorkers and telling lawmakers that helping owners of disintegrating rent-stabilized housing would also serve tenants.
RSA was more explicitly member-facing. Its website described it as “exclusively dedicated to protecting and serving the interests of the residential housing industry.” With far more spending power than CHIP, it was able to marshal millions of dollars from property owners to oppose good cause eviction and support candidates against those backed by the Democratic Socialists of America.
Joseph Strasburg, 72, who served as president of the RSA for the past 30 years, felt that if an elected official were not willing to at least listen or meet with him and his organization, the most effective strategy was to find a politically moderate challenger.
“I believe you have a lot of people in the middle, who will see there are people who support them. You need to be visible,” he said.
“I never was concerned or frightened off by threats,” he continued. “My position is I’d rather fight you, even if I lose, I get bloodied. Next time you know I won’t be intimidated.”
Burgos said the organization will not be afraid to wade into critical elections.
Strasburg and CHIP’s executive director, Jay Martin, have been publicly supportive of the merger, citing the groups’ overlap in members and how that redundancy led to property owners splitting their dues.
The groups teamed up to pursue a legal challenge against the state’s rent stabilization system, but the U.S. Supreme Court declined to take up the case.
Titles to be announced
Beyond Burgos, information on the group’s new leadership is limited. Aaron Sirulnick, chair of RSA and vice chair of CHIP’s board, is serving as chair of the New York Apartment Association. Zachary Kerr, president of CHIP, is vice chair.
Strasburg is stepping away, but will serve as a consultant for the next year. Martin has a leadership role with the new group, but Burgos said titles are still “fluid.”
In an interview, Strasburg compared leading the organization to the biblical story of Joseph prophesying seven years of prosperity, followed by seven years of famine.
“Thirty years is a long time to be in any job,” Strasburg said in an interview. “It’s been fun, it’s been frustrating.”
Soon after Strasburg took the helm at the RSA in 1994, the City Council implemented vacancy decontrol, and he set to work trying to persuade the industry to donate to Republican George Pataki’s campaign against Gov. Mario Cuomo.
Cuomo, bidding for a third term, lost. Strasburg believed in “voter fatigue” as a natural form of term limits, and acknowledged that his time had also come at RSA.
“I don’t believe in being forced out or dying in the position. I wanted to leave on my own terms,” he said. “I’ve seen too many cases of people who think they are going to live forever.”
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