How to Join (and Win!) the Fight Against Local Law 64

Below is the email blast that went out to our HDFC Coalition mailing list. Note: If you didn’t get the email, sign up for our mailing list right now, before you forget! Click here to join our mailing list. (We also have a paper petition that you can print out for your neighbors to sign, especially since many in our community are elderly and don’t use computers. Download the petition here.) And you can help to get the word out about Local Law 64 on social media by sharing our Facebook post here and/or retweeting our Twitter post here. Every little bit helps! Now for the email that we sent out to everyone on our mailing list:

Dear fellow HDFC shareholders,

The HDFC community is facing a new threat from City government, and we need your help to win. We need to work together to defeat Local Law 64 of 2018, also known as the new “Housing Portal” law.  

The City Council passed Local Law 64 of 2018 to force big developers to register new affordable rental units, but somehow every individual HDFC apartment owner got caught up in it along the way, and next year we could face fines up to $2,000 a month for not complying with the law.

If not amended, starting in July of 2020 Local Law 64 will: 

  • Require every HDFC apartment owner to register their apartment each year on a website run by HPD, and to list their apartment again when it is offered for sale or rent. 
  • Cause each and every HDFC apartment owner to receive as many as 1,000 applications or more through the HPD website if we sell our apartment, and leave us at risk of being sued for not replying to each application, according to HPD. 
  • Allow HPD to fine shareholders from $100 to $2,000 per month for failing to list their apartment sometime after July 2020, when the HPD website is scheduled to be operational.  
  • Require all HDFC shareholders to comply, including those whom are elderly, may not use computers, may not communicate primarily in  English, and cannot afford to pay such fines.
  • Invade our privacy and require us to list our private homes on a government website.
  • Possibly cause banks to stop lending for HDFCs or make it more difficult to get a loan or a mortgage. 

It makes absolutely no sense for the City to invade our privacy, require the elderly to use computers in a language they may not understand, and then punish HDFC shareholders with fines that they cannot afford to pay.

Surprisingly, HPD opposed the enactment of Local Law 64 and testified against it, as did some other organizations.  Then again, the law simply doesn’t make sense, and this was clear to HPD.  

It is extremely important that we do whatever is necessary to have Local Law 64 amended as soon as possible to exclude HDFC co-ops.

We want you to know: what Local Law 64 means to you, what the HDFC Coalition is doing about it, and how we can work together to defeat yet another misguided attack on our families and our homes.

What is Local Law 64 of 2018, and what is HPD’s new “Housing  Portal” website?

On December 19, 2017 the New York City Council approved Intro 1015A, which then became Local Law 64 of 2018, and submitted it to Mayor Bill de Blasio. Mayor de Blasio failed to approve or disapprove the legislation within thirty days, and therefore it became law.

Local Law 64 (LL 64) started out as a bill primarily sponsored by Council Member Ben Kallos of Manhattan’s Upper East Side. While the bill began as an effort to target big developers who failed to register rent stabilized apartments in new developments, the bill apparently took on a life of its own and was expanded along the way to include other types of housing.

Until recently, many of us were not aware of the potential significance of LL 64 for HDFC cooperatives.  The HDFC Coalition was not consulted about the bill, and it’s not clear whether or not many of the Council Members who voted to pass the bill understood what the impact on HDFC shareholders would be.

Local Law 64 requires essentially all affordable housing units (including HDFC co-ops) to be listed by their owners (this means you) on a new HPD website to be launched by July 1, 2020, and failing to do so could cost owners (again, this means you!) up to $2,000.00 per month in fines.

LL 64 requires HPD to set up the new website and create a reporting process for apartment owners (this means you, or the board of directors of your HDFC if the apartment is a rental owned by the co-op corporation).  Unless the law is amended, HDFC owners will be required to provide a significant amount of information to HPD each year, and additional information will also be required whenever an HDFC apartments comes on the market for sale and/or rent.

This law ostensibly creates a more transparent process for the marketing, sale, and rental of affordable housing. However, as it applies to HDFC co-ops, it creates a potentially expensive and time-consuming obligation that could negatively affect the value of, and market for, apartments in HDFC co-ops without offering any obvious benefits to HDFC co-ops, their shareholders or boards of directors.

Much will depend on how HPD constructs the website and the procedures for complying with this law. It appears that HPD will be required to initiate a rule-making process at some point, where a set of draft rules must be provided by HPD for public comment, and HPD will then have to review and respond to the comments received before issuing a final set of rules.

If LL 64 is not amended and HDFC shareholders are required to fully comply with this law, the penalties for failing to do so are:

$100 per month for the first six-month period

$250 per month for the second six-month period

$1,000 per month for the third six-month period

$2,000 per month for the fourth six-month period and for each month thereafter

What is the HDFC Coalition doing about LL64?

The HDFC Coalition Policy Committee first reviewed LL 64 with our pro-bono attorneys Emma Lupu, Steven Siegel and Andrew D. Stern.  Then, we met with NYC Council Members Mark Levine and Ben Kallos to request assistance. Here is the latest news on the fight:

NYC Council Member Mark Levine, whose district has the largest number of HDFC buildings, is working with other Council members including the chair of the Housing Committee Robert E. Cornegy, Jr. to draft an amendment to Local Law 64.  The purpose of the amendment would be to exempt HDFC cooperatives from the requirements of the law so that HDFC shareholders would not be required to register and sell their homes through an online portal or website. 

NYC Council Member Ben Kallos was the prime sponsor of the bill that was originally intended to target big developers and later morphed into what is now Local Law 64.  He listened to our concerns and he agreed that a bill to modify the law could be drafted and introduced.

The HDFC Coalition is now keeping a very close watch on what happens next.  We insist that a bill exempting HDFCs from LL 64 be drafted and introduced soon, before the rulemaking process starts for the law as presently written.

We (really) need your help!

Political activism of HDFC shareholders just like you and your neighbors (including our rally at City Hall) is what made us all victorious in our past effort to defeat the City’s plan to force us to hand over control of our buildings and sign onerous new regulatory agreements.

Your emails, letters and phone calls also helped us win together in our fight against NY State bill S6543 in Albany, a plan drafted by Mayor Bill de Blasio’s office  that would have brought our co-ops permanently under the control of HPD.

This time will be no different.  We need to fight together as a group. We need to be organized and energized, and we can’t stop until we win.  We’ve already won key battles twice in a row, so we know that with your help we can do it again. But please remember that the HDFC Coalition can only help to win these battles when you join with us and become politically active.  We just can’t do it alone.

Please help us all win another victory together by doing all of the following:

  1. Forward this email to other shareholders in your building so they are aware of the threat posed by Local law 64. And please ask every HDFC shareholder you know to join the HDFC Coalition mailing list by going to this link: https://goo.gl/forms/JVQe3QSgEKLpIRVH3
  2. Print and post this flyer entitled “Urgent: Local Law 64” at your building. Link to flyer: https://www.hdfccoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Local-Law-64-flyer-9.17.2019.pdf
  3. Please send emails and write letters to City Council Members. We MUST show our elected officials that the HDFC community is organized in large numbers and expects the City Council to take action quickly to help us.  (Instructions on how to contact your elected officials and a sample letter are at the bottom of this email.)

After you reach out to City Council Members, watch your email for further updates on LL 64 from the HDFC Coalition.  If a bill is introduced soon to amend LL 64 as we have requested, we will need to show strong support for it. If a bill is not introduced, or doesn’t make the changes needed, we need to be ready to demonstrate at City Hall again.

Want to dig deeper on Local Law 64 and the HDFC Coalition’s efforts to amend it?

Read the HDFC Coalition’s position paper against LL 64: link.

Read the HDFC Coalition’s letter to Council Member Ben Kallos: link.

Read HPD’s testimony against Local Law 64: link.

(Full information is on the City Council website: link.)

Read the law itself.  See Local Law 64: link.

(Read a simple overview of the requirements of Local Law 64: link.)

Don’t forget: Contact these Council Members!

Who to contact:

How to contact them:

At this point, we recommend emails and written letters sent by US mail.

(Note: if you send an email, please cc: us at hdfccoalition@gmail.com so we have a copy.)

Find your local Council Member’s contact info here: https://council.nyc.gov/districts/

NYC Council Member Robert E. Cornegy, Jr.

Chair, Committee on Housing and Buildings

250 Broadway, Suite 1743

New York, NY 10007

Email: district36@council.nyc.gov

NYC Council Member Ben Kallos

250 Broadway, Suite 1807

New York, NY 10007

Email: BKallos@BenKallos.com

NYC Council Member Mark Levine

250 Broadway, Rm. 1816

New York, NY 10007

Email: District7@council.nyc.gov

What to write:

Below is a sample letter.  Of course, you will want to revise as necessary to make the letter a bit different so it is unique and from yourself.

Dear Council Member ———(One each to Robert E. Cornegy Jr., Ben Kallos, Mark Levine and your local CM)

My name is ____________ and I am writing to you to request that Local Law 64 of 2018 be amended to exclude HDFC cooperatives and shareholders.  I am an HDFC shareholder living at ____(address)___ (along with my spouse/partner/children etc.). We are registered voters and active in our community.  We are also members of the citywide HDFC Coalition.

While it may be appropriate to require big developers to register rental apartments and fine them up to $2,000 per month if they don’t, it is not appropriate to treat small homeowners the same way.  The law currently requires us to list our private homes on a government website, and this is wrong.

Many HDFC homeowners are elderly, do not use computers, may be disabled, and may not communicate primarily in English.  Many are on fixed incomes. It is clearly wrong for the City to require them to register their homes on a website, and when they are unable to do so, to then charge them fines they simply cannot afford.

This law may have additional unintended consequences that are not yet known.  We respectfully ask that a bill be introduced as soon as possible to fully exempt HDFC cooperatives under any and all circumstances.  It is also important that Local Law 64 of 2018 be amended before HPD begins the required rule-making process for the law, as we want to avoid the confusion and distress of approximately 90,000 New Yorkers living in approximately 30,000 apartments in over 1,000 HDFC cooperatives.

Please let me know your position on this urgent issue at your earliest convenience.

Respectfully,

Your name

Your address

Your phone

Your email