It’s an annual tradition in Albany as old as the budget being late. First, the Assembly passes a raft of housing bills aimed at strengthening New York’s rent laws and protecting tenant rights. Then the Senate ignores them and the bills die before ever getting out of the chamber’s housing committee.
In years past, the overwhelmingly Democratic Assembly could blame Republicans. But last year, for the first time in more than 40 years, Democrats took control of the state senate. Assembly members and housing advocates thought there would finally be some action on these housing bills.
But with Senate Majority Leader Pedro Espada, Jr. in charge of the housing committee, it hasn’t worked out exactly how they planned.
Last year, Espada flip-flopped numerous times on his support for several housing bills passed by the Assembly. In the end, he didn’t address any of them.
This year, Espada has pushed an alternative bill he says will preserve hundreds of thousands of affordable housing units, but that advocates say is completely unrealistic and basically a gift to the city’s wealthiest landlords. Vito Lopez, the head of the Assembly’s housing committee, told the Village Voice that the bill was “not something I find acceptable.”
Still, Espada continues to defend the bill, saying in an e-mail, that his rent freeze bill would “keep money in the pockets of 600,000 tenants.” 
Espada said he is also working on creating a “Housing Investment Fund with a dedicated revenue stream for affordable housing rehabilitation, preservation and construction capital projects.”  
Meanwhile, the other pro-tenant bills — like repealing vacancy decontrol of apartments renting for more than $2,000 a month — continue to languish. 
“Tenants need strong laws in place that protect their rights and ensure they have affordable, safe places to live,” said Assemblyman Jeff Dinowitz in a statement announcing his chamber’s passage of the housing bills. “Without rent regulation — which prevents rapidly rising housing costs — working families would not be able to afford living in New York City.”
You can tell Dinowitz is getting a little exasperated.
“Last year, the senate did not pass any of these pro-tenant bills even with a Democratic majority for the first time in 40 years,” he said in the release. “I hope the senate finally acts this year.”
Though the bills are not his top priorities, Espada said, “We have been in very productive discussion on several of the bills that the Assembly has passed, and are hopeful of reaching a consensus on some of these bills.”