Don’t Let the Real Estate Lobby Divide the Ossining We Love

I am writing to in support of the Emergency Tenant Protection Act (ETPA), which is being considered by the Village Board in Ossining. As many know, the ETPA is a form of rent stabilization which would protect the homes of over 1,200 families who currently live in the Village of Ossining. If adopted, it will regulate drastic and unpredictable rent increases and give tenants the right to one or two-year leases. Further, tenants who live in regulated buildings will have additional protections when their units or buildings need basic maintenance or repair.

We live in a time of intense political division in our nation. Unfortunately, there are currently outside forces in Ossining which are hoping to divide our own community into two camps, homeowners vs. renters. For instance, the “Westchester Builders Institute” (a large New York State lobby) is funding opposition to the passage of ETPA here.

Suggestions have been made that our homeowners should stand against the interest of their renting neighbors to “stop ETPA” because homeowners’ taxes will rise. However, Elliot Sclar, Professor Emeritus of Economics at Columbia University, has studied this issue. He finds NO statistically significant impact on property taxes in towns which have adopted ETPA. In Westchester, there are nineteen communities who have had this protection in place, some for forty years, including Sleepy Hollow, Dobbs Ferry, Tarrytown, and Port Chester, and report that it works well.

Towns with stable, long-term populations are stronger than those who have a succession of transient residents, and right now Ossining as a community enjoys this strength. As a resident myself, I support the ETPA, and I urge all my fellow citizens to continue to stand together as friends and neighbors to support it too. What we do now is critical to the future of our town.