Tenants need a freeze - not an increase - for leases to be renewed for the year beginning October 1, 2014.NY Daily News: Mayor de Blasio names five to NYC Rent Guidelines Board
BY CELESTE KATZ
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Thursday, March 27, 2014, 9:03 AM
Ahead of Thursday morning's meeting, Mayor de Blasio announced five appointments to the Rent Guidelines Board, the panel that determines rates for about 1 million apartments across the city.
Bios from the Mayor's press release:
- Cecilia Joza is currently the housing counseling program director at Mutual Housing Association of New York, a not-for-profit housing organization that owns and manages over 1,200 affordable rental apartments in New York.
- Steven Flax is currently a VP of community reinvestment at M&T Bank, where he oversees New York City community development lending. Flax is also the chair of the Neighborhood Opportunities Fund, a collaborative of foundations and banks.
- Sarah Willard works at Hudson Companies as a senior project manager, where she is responsible for managing the company’s activities on Roosevelt Island. She spent her early years at Prudential Capital, CarrAmerica and Greenfield Partners, working in debt origination, development modeling and acquisitions.
- Sheila Garcia is the community organizer at the nonprofit CASA New Settlement, where she "works with community residents to improve living conditions and maintain affordable housing in the neighborhood."
- Harvey Epstein has served as a tenants’ representative since April 2013. He is the project director of the Community Development Project at the Urban Justice Center, represents member organizations in litigating housing, health and consumer matters. Formerly, he served as associate director and managing attorney of the nonprofit Housing Conservation Coordinators and as a staff attorney at the Community Law Offices for The Legal Aid Society.