Kingston needs rent control!

If you’re a renter, you already know how hard it is to find a safe, clean apartment within your budget in Kingston. Rents are skyrocketing, available apartments are few and far between, and landlords are using loopholes in the laws to kick tenants out or increase their rents.

There is a new law that is available for Kingston to opt into. It’s called the Emergency Tenant Protection Act, or ETPA. It provides protections to tenants against rent increases and retaliatory evictions, in buildings and complexes built before 1974 with 6+ apartments.

We believe that some of the apartment complexes it would apply to include:

• Camelot Manor/Parkview Terrace

• Chestnut Mansion

• Dutch Village

• Fairview Gardens

• Stony Run Apartments

What the ETPA does

• Creates a rental guidelines board of local appointees who determine what a fair rental increase is every year (in many cases in other communities, somewhere around 1-3% annually)

• Requires landlords to keep all equipment and services in good working order

• Gives tenants the right to lease renewal

• Enforcement and regulation is handled by the state Division of Housing and Community Renewal, which has the power to reduce rents and sue landlords for civil penalties payable to tenants

• Only applies to buildings and complexes with 6+ apartments built before 1974

Why Kingston needs the ETPA

• Kingston has close to 6,000 apartments. Only 1,100 are subsidized against rent increases and gentrification. The ETPA would protect around another 1,000 families from rent increases and negligent landlords.

• Rents and evictions are at all-time highs

• Our city’s vacancy rate is at .5%, making it hard to find new apartments

• Wages are not increasing along with rents, making it hard to afford to stay

How to get the ETPA

• The City of Kingston needs to commission a rental vacancy survey of apartments that qualify for the ETPA

• Kingston’s Common Council then needs to officially declare a rental emergency and enact the ETPA

Whether you live in an apartment that would be covered by the ETPA, live in a non-affected apartment, or are a homeowner tired of watching your friends and neighbors struggle with rent, sign our petition to demand that Kingston takes all of the steps to enact the ETPA as soon as possible!