June 2, 2022
KINGSTON – The City of Kingston’s rental apartment vacancy rate is 1.57 percent, well below 6.7 percent rate in 2020, and Mayor Steven Noble is asking the common council to declare a housing emergency paving the way for rent stabilization.
Under the state’s Emergency Tenant Protection Act, rental protections can be applied to buildings constructed before 1974 with six or more units, the mayor noted.
“This is going to help over 1,200 apartments here in the City of Kingston, be able to make sure that they are not having rents that are raised beyond appropriate levels based on conditions and what would be a new rent control board would establish,” he said.
The Laws and Rules Committee of the common council will review the vacancy study and consider a resolution to declare a housing emergency and opt into the state program in June.
If approved, Kingston would be the first New York municipality to opt into the program north of Rockland County.
