Anyone who has lived in North Brooklyn for more than a year has felt the heartbreak of a favorite shop or restaurant having to close because their lease was up and the landlord raised the rent so high that there was no real choice but to close or double/triple the price of merchandise/services.
Anyone who has lived here more than a decade probably has memories and yearning for a closed business on nearly every other street.
Corporate landlords are charging rents so high that the only business owners who can afford to pay are corporate chains.
NYS Senator Julia Salazar
An annual festive way to alert the neighborhood of these losses appears on Filmore Place. During Halloween week, a graveyard of loved but lost neighborhood places appears. There are new additions each year.
In the 20 years I’ve been in my neighborhood, I’ve seen so many beloved businesses close because of unaffordable rents or because big landlords would rather wait for a corporate chain to come along. With Small Business Rent Stabilization, we will cap rent, guarantee leases, and ensure our community businesses are actually owned by the members of our community.”
NYS Assembly Member Emily Gallagher
In order to prevent more small business losses, NYS Senator Julia Salazar and NYS Assembly Member Emily Gallagher introduced Small Business Rent Stabilization (S8319 / A5568A). NYS Senator Kristen Gonzalez is a co-sponsor. This bill will institute a commercial rent control system to prohibit unaffordable rent hikes and guarantee lease renewals for small businesses in NYC.
“Small Business Rent Stabilization would be a lifeline for small businesses in New York City by capping outrageous rent hikes and guaranteeing lease renewals. Corporate landlords are charging rents so high that the only business owners who can afford to pay are corporate chains. Or, they’re keeping storefronts vacant until larger, wealthier tenants come along. This is a toxic and now commonplace pattern that is shuttering our local businesses, putting New Yorkers out of work, and turning our vibrant neighborhoods into chain malls,” said Salazar.
Gallagher stated, “Small businesses are what make New York special, but they are increasingly being pushed out by greedy corporate actors. In the 20 years I’ve been in my neighborhood, I’ve seen so many beloved businesses close because of unaffordable rents or because big landlords would rather wait for a corporate chain to come along. With Small Business Rent Stabilization, we will cap rent, guarantee leases, and ensure our community businesses are actually owned by the members of our community.”
This legislation will: create the Commercial Rent Guidelines Board to set maximum annual rent increases for commercial tenants, provide lease renewal rights with a default 10-year renewal term, protect at-will tenants with the right to request a written lease, apply to all leases and rental agreements for commercial spaces, and enforce compliance through strong penalty provisions against overcharges and tenant harassment.
This legislation doesn’t: freeze rents entirely or roll back existing rents, prevent landlords from making a fair return, or apply retroactively to existing leases
“Small businesses are struggling to survive in New York City because they cannot keep up with continuously rising costs, including the rising cost of rent. This crisis is the result of treating commercial space as a commodity to make corporate real estate companies richer, rather than as community infrastructure to support our neighborhoods. New York must pass Small Business Rent Stabilization before our local business owners are forced to close their doors and seek opportunities elsewhere,” said Small Business United, a new small business organizing coalition.
The Greenline 