Since elected last fall, housing advocates have been hounding Bronx State Senator Pedro Espada, Jr., who is head of the Senate Housing Committee, to push through a bill that would end vacancy decontrol, which gives landlords wide latitude to raise rents on apartments going for more than $2,000.

Espada has gone back and forth on vacancy decontrol since taking office in January. In the spring, Espada met with and received campaign contributions from pro-landlord groups. In June, he said he would not support the repeal of rent decontrol. As recently as September, he had maintained this position.

But last week, when pressed on the issue at a rally held by the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition (the biggest tenant advocates in the area), Espada changed his tune.

When asked at the rally whether he would work to end vacancy decontrol, Espada said “yes,” but added that the effort “will affect very few units in our district.”

In an op-ed in the last issue of the Norwood News, Gregory Lobo-Jost of University Neighborhood Housing Program, explained that vacancy decontrol does affect Espada’s district because it drives the working poor from elsewhere in the city to the Bronx.

Coalition leaders said they would be following up with Espada in the coming months and warned, “We will know how to pull the lever and use the power of our vote.”