'Offensive And Unacceptible,' Says Hoboken Mayor Bhalla On Rent Control Referendum

HOBOKEN, NJ — After a longtime taxpayers' group in Hoboken said it will hold a referendum on a proposed rent decontrol initiative they've drafted, Hoboken's mayor has come out against it.

When asked about the proposed referendum, first reported in Patch yesterday, Mayor Ravi Bhalla gave this statement on Thursday afternoon:

"The Mile Square Tax Association has been trying, unsuccessfully, for years to gut rent control in Hoboken and the latest attempt is offensive and unacceptable.

"MSTA has tried referendums in the past and failed because the residents of Hoboken can’t be fooled, and fully
recognize the importance of preserving fair and stabilized rents for current and future tenants.

"I strongly encourage everyone to come out against this referendum which will unfairly burden future tenants, undermine the fundamental principles of social equity and economic justice, and contribute to housing insecurity for those least able to bear the burden. "

MSTA head Ron Simoncini responded to Bhalla by saying, "The MSTA's greatest success was when Mayor Bhalla collaborated with us on amendments to cure inequities in the ordinance -- and our successful defense against a tenant-led

initiative to reverse them. This generation of property owners is suffering just as substantially, but now includes condominium owners who find themselves subject to rent control as a result of a Rent Leveling Board that has done its best to subject the city to lawsuits that could bankrupt it."

He added, "We are trying to cure not only that, but the city's failure to provide funding for affordable housing. We think Mayor Bhalla has not had sufficient time to examine the benefits at hand but, as when he worked with us before, his thinking may change."

History

Amid Hoboken's gentrification and instances of alleged tenant harassment, battles over rent control in Hoboken have sometimes lasted for years.

Bhalla was responding to the latest proposal from the MTSA, whose members and supporters made a surprise appearance at Hoboken's City Council meeting on Wednesday evening. The members said they want a public vote — otherwise known as a referendum — on a proposal they've created to modify rent control.

In essence, the measure would allow a landlord in Hoboken to get a one-time vacancy decontrol when a tenant moves out voluntarily. In exchange, the landlords would contribute $2,500 per unit to an affordable housing trust fund.

Right now, landlords of (mainly) older units in Hoboken are limited in how much they can raise the rent, to the cost of living increase, currently around 5 percent each year. But they can also get a 25 percent vacancy decontrol every three years if a tenant leaves voluntarily. They can also spread out certain increases, like water and tax bills, among tenants.

The new measure would let the landlord raise the rent any amount as long as it was acceptable to the next tenant.

The landlord group — run by public relations executive Ron Simoncini, who has fought to change rent control laws in other towns as well — said that mom-and-pop landlords are suffering financially as they try to maintain their units without getting market-rate rents.

The MSTA also said that the city has not created any affordable housing in years, and new arrivals to Hoboken can't find an existing affordable unit.

They also claimed that many tenants in recent controlled units are earning $100,000 or more, but acknowledged, when asked, that this number came from people currently apartment-searching in Hoboken, not necessarily people already living in the units.

Rent control is meant to stabilize rents so that an existing tenant doesn't get a surprise increase, as has happened in some newer buildings recently. Rents in Hoboken, with a median of more than $4,000 per month, have become among the highest in the nation. READ MORE: Are 25 Percent Rent Increases Legal?

Last year, local rent control advocate Cheryl Fallick worked with Simoncini to present what they said was a compromise proposal to the City Council. This came amid much back-and-forth on rent control amendments, and was ultimately passed by the City Council. But Mayor Ravi Bhalla vetoed it.

The measure was meant to avoid a referendum, since the current voting demographics of Hoboken may be different than they were for the last rent referendum over a decade ago. No one can predict how the vote will go in the next such matter.

In a release, Simoncini said that the existing rent control measures in Hoboken aren't the only problem.

“Hoboken’s current Rent Control regime – from a convoluted Ordinance to a runaway Rent Leveling Board with an understaffed office – has been a disaster for years and it is only getting worse,” he said.

The public question proposed by the MSTA would read like this: "Initiative and Referendum Petition Question Should Chapter 155-31 of the Ordinances of the City of Hoboken, Rent Control Ordinance ("RCO") be amended to provide an option to landlords to pay a fee of $2500 to the Hoboken Affordable Housing Trust Fund in order to lease voluntarily vacated apartments at a freely negotiated rent, which thereafter remain subject to the provisions of the (“RCO”) including limitations on annual rent increases."

See MSTA supporters advocate for the ordinance at Wednesday's council meeting here.

See a prior Patch story about Hoboken rent control and landlords applying to tear down rent controlled buildings here.

The last time a rent control amendment came to a public vote, the matter was very narrowly defeated. The MSTA, which was pushing for vacancy decontrol, challenged the election results in court, then dropped the claim in 2014.