NEW YORK (WBNG) — On Oct. 21, the New York State Assembly heard testimony from state and local officials on the Rent Emergency Stabilization for Tenants, or REST, Act.
If passed into law, the legislation would allow for cities, towns and villages across the state to opt into rent regulation policies.
As it stands, local governments are required to conduct an annual housing survey in hopes of showing a vacancy rate below 5%.
The act would authorize a city with a population of one million or more to use public data to declare a housing emergency if the vacancy rate exceeds 5%.
Syracuse City Auditor Alexander Marion highlighted the need for reform in his city and others across the state at the hearing.
“We have some serious challenges in our housing market, and I believe the REST Act is an important to we can use to address some of those imbalances,” said Marion.
Marion added that the solution to the housing issue is likely different for each locality in the state.
“It [the REST Act] allows us to use publicly available data to make the right determinations and gives us flexibility for our building thresholds to include, because the right answer for Syracuse might be different from Kingston, or Hudson, or Poughkeepsie,” said Marion.
The bill has not been officially voted on yet, but remains in a Senate Committee.
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