Support & Protect Affordable Housing

I am committed to protecting rent control and advocating for affordable housing in order to make Hoboken accessible and affordable for everyone.

Tenant Protections

Community members have worked hard to maintain Hoboken’s robust rent control program, which has long protected tenants in every corner of the city. While continued support for rent control is crucial, a broader approach is needed to help tenants stand up to large, corporate landlords. As mayor, I will:

  • Design and implement a Right to Counsel program that provides free legal services to tenants, encompassing both eviction defense and proactive legal actions against landlords in violation of local law.

    • The program will be implemented within a newly established Office of Public Counsel, which brings previously contracted services in-house, and expands the scope of work currently performed by the heavily utilized Tenant Advocate.

  • Define an unconscionable rent increase as 10% to allow a more systematic and consistent application of the prohibition against such increases, which protects all renters in Hoboken (not just those in rent-controlled units).

  • Require disclosure of legal rent calculations to tenants when requested by the landlord, and vice versa, to ensure that both parties are kept aware of the unit’s status. 

Develop tenant education programs to ensure renters are aware of resources and policies that protect them, such as the existing Tenant Advocate. All materials should be made available in multiple languages to ensure accessibility for all tenants.

Enforcement

Good housing policy cannot make an impact unless the city has the tools to enforce it. In order to ensure that the laws keeping Hoboken affordable are upheld, I will:

  • Allocate more resources to the Rent Control and Stabilization Office to increase its capacity for both educational outreach to landlords and tenants, as well as compliance monitoring.

  • Create a program to aggressively identify unregistered rental units by using software to automatically compare publicly available listings (e.g. Zillow, Redfin, etc) against the Rent Control Office’s registry.

  • Consider tiered incentives and tiered fines for non- compliant landlords to ensure the city has the information it needs to conduct proper enforcement of rent control. 

Integrate community-based monitoring or tenant advocacy partnerships into the rental compliance strategy, allowing for direct feedback from residents.

Increasing Supply

Extensive development in recent decades has rapidly expanded Hoboken’s available housing stock, but not enough has been created that is affordable. To ensure that the stock of affordable housing keeps up with the needs of the community, my administration will:

  • Leverage opportunities presented by city-owned lots in need of renovation to develop mixed-use buildings, integrating multiple categories of affordable homes for community-driven development.

    • Future redevelopment plans should follow the model set by the renovation of Garage B, which will include both low-income and workforce housing units.

  • Increase the mandatory affordable units in large new developments from 10% to 15%, matching the current policy in New York City.

  • Study the prevalence and impact of AirBnb on Hoboken’s supply of affordable units to inform future policy actions. At a minimum, institute a registration requirement for all short-term rentals, including application of a tax similar to the hotel tax (paid by the visitor).

  • Continue to support the Hoboken Housing Authority (HHA) Redevelopment Plan in order to replace and revitalize every unit in the HHA campus, incorporating new infrastructure to modernize stormwater and sewer systems, reduce flooding, enhance transportation accessibility, and provide community-focused amenities. In addition, ensure that no HHA resident will be displaced by this redevelopment.