City Prepares for Rent Crisis
New York 1 Cable, June 13, 1997
6/12/97The city is preparing to help tenants protect themselves in cases of landlord harassment or eviction if rent laws lapse this weekend. The mayor's office of emergency management has created a special task force, complete with a hotline to take calls all weekend long.
The task force is made up of city agencies and the legal aid society. Mayor Giuliani says landlords who bother tenants will be arrested. "The fact is landlords are no difference than any one else. You have good ones and you have bad ones. And there are some in-between landlords. If some landlords are saying they won't harass that's fine. But there are other landlords who will." The city hotline number has not yet been set up.
Tenants with questions or complaints can call the Metropolitan Council on Housing at 212-693-0550 or the Tenants and Neighbors Coalition at 212-695-8922 or the Rent Guidelines Board at 212-385-2934.
Landlords can call the Rent Stabilization Association- which represents landlords- at 800-924-3933.