Westchester County BOL Joint Committee Meeting on ETPA and Housing Conditions - May 5, 2026
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Westchester County Board of Legislators Joint Committee Meeting on ETPA and Housing Conditions - May 5, 2026
On May 5, 2026, the Westchester County Board of Legislators’ Intergovernmental Affairs and Infrastructure & Housing committees held a joint public meeting to discuss the Emergency Tenant Protection Act (ETPA), its impact on rent-stabilized units, and potential county-level actions to improve housing conditions for both tenants and property owners. The meeting featured presentations from the Building and Realty Institute (BRI) of the Hudson Valley and the Fiscal Policy Institute (FPI), along with robust Q&A and deliberation among legislators.
Guest Presentations
- Timothy Foley (CEO, BRI) provided an overview of rent stabilization in Westchester County: approximately 28,000 units (about 20% of the county’s 131,000 rental units) are rent‑stabilized, all in buildings constructed before 1974. He explained that the 2019 Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act (HSTPA) eliminated vacancy bonuses, severely capped Major Capital Improvement (MCI) and Individual Apartment Improvement (IAI) cost recovery, and created permanent rent stabilization with no pathways to market rate. He noted that MCI applications dropped from roughly 50 per year pre‑2019 to four in 2025, and IAIs are now capped at $30,000 (formerly $15,000) per unit over 10 years, which often falls short of actual repair costs (e.g., lead remediation averaging $50,000).
- Alana Ciuffetelli (Chair, Apartment Owners Advisory Council of BRI) presented a case study of a 21‑unit building where a $30,000 IAI in a unit with $800 legal rent yields only a $178.28 monthly increase, while the operating cost per unit is $1,152 per month. She reported that her real estate taxes increased 62% and insurance costs rose 50% over the last five years, and interest on debt jumped from $22,000 to $62,000 annually. She argued that landlords are being asked to subsidize tenants without means testing, and called for property tax relief, an insurance fund, and better data to target assistance.
- Emily Eisner (Acting Executive Director and Chief Economist, FPI) compared New York City’s robust Rent Guidelines Board reporting (with dedicated staff and detailed operating income/expense data) to Westchester’s limited reports (six pages, no projections, no cohort breakdowns). She suggested that Westchester could leverage property tax data and advocated for policy solutions addressing high debt costs and capital remediation needs.
Discussion Items
- Legislators expressed concern about rising rents, low vacancy rates, and the financial strain on tenants, while acknowledging the challenges faced by property owners. Several noted that ETPA is a state law beyond county control, but the county can influence the Rent Guidelines Board (RGB) appointments and data collection.
- Data gaps were a central theme. The RGB receives only aggregate data from the state’s Division of Homes and Community Renewal (HCR), lacking building‑level operating income, debt burdens, and demographic information. Legislators and guests agreed that better data is needed to understand whether landlords are experiencing negative net operating income and to avoid “skewed results.”
- Vacancy and unit loss: The number of rent‑stabilized units declined from 29,638 in 2020 to 28,755 in 2024 – a net loss of about 900 units. Whether this reflects normal churn or intentional vacancy is unclear, as anecdotal reports of owners leaving units offline have not yet shown up in the data at scale.
- Rent Guidelines Board composition: BRI noted that one public member seat and one owner's representative seat are vacant, and urged the Board of Legislators to fill them promptly. The RGB currently has no staff; all members are volunteers.
- County capital funds: The 2025 capital budget included $10 million for infrastructure upgrades, but the planning department has not yet finalized eligibility details. BRI requested that rent‑stabilized buildings be included, especially for smaller owners.
- Potential county tools: Discussion included the possibility of a targeted property tax exemption for financially distressed smaller owners (triggered if RGB increases lag inflation), and an insurance captive model similar to one New York City is exploring. Both would require state or municipal legislative action.
Key Outcomes
- Legislators committed to sending a letter to the Westchester County Rent Guidelines Board requesting better data reporting, including a breakout of buildings that are 90%+ rent‑stabilized (as recommended by HCR).
- BRI and FPI will jointly provide a list of desired data points (e.g., net operating income distributions, mortgage percentage, debt costs) to inform future policy.
- The committees will follow up with the county planning department to advocate that rent‑stabilized units qualify for the $10 million capital improvement program.
- Legislators will engage state representatives to discuss potential reforms to the IAI/MCI caps and explore insurance relief mechanisms.
- The meeting adjourned at 2:21 PM. No formal votes were taken.
Meeting Transcript
Oh, this is for me. This meeting is being recorded and summarized. Oh, hello, I'm sorry. I I know I heard that. Okay, so hi everyone. Uh, my name is Shane Williams. I'm the chair of infrastructure and housing committee, and I would like to call this meeting to order. I'm here. Vice Chair Pierce. I'm present. Legislator Holstein. Present. Present. Thank you. Legislator Nambiar. Here. Legislator Woodson Samuels, Chairman Gashi. We are open at 1.05 p.m. Um good afternoon. Here, Chairing Intergovernmental Affairs. We'll start with the tenant. I am here. Vice Chair MMORI. Legislator Erica Pierce. Legislator Terry Woodson Samuels. Not here. Legislator Shine War. Here. And Chair Magashi. All right, we're called to order at 1.05 p.m. Okay, so we're here today um with our uh some guests from the Building Realty Institute. Uh because a few weeks ago um I met with uh some of your members, uh, particularly the owners of Rent Stabilized uh buildings in Western, and um they brought some concerns to me. And so we're having the same meeting pretty much, just uh uh publicly, and I think it's really important for myself and for all of my colleagues to understand what the concerns are from the owner's uh perspective. Oftentimes, myself and legislator Uli, we we we like to champion the um the issues of our tenants, um, but we know that for in order for us to move forward and work together as one Westchester, we need to have everyone at the table. And so we're happy to give you guys this opportunity to um raise your concerns and hopefully we can work towards solutions that benefit everybody. So um with that, I'd like to um uh ask uh the chair of intergovernmental affairs to um say a few words if you'd like, and then we can jump right in. Sure. Um obviously housing is one of the most critical issues that we're facing with in Westchester. Affordability is the number one talking point nowadays. Um and the number one expenditure for folks is housing, right? People are struggling, and we also know um that the vacancy rates contribute to this, the vacancy rates keep driving up the cost of housing. And we are definitely partners in some areas when we it comes to building. Um I feel like we're very closely aligned there and wanting to build more housing. Uh and then there are areas where we disagree on regulations, right? We have uh responsibility to protect tenants. Um you have your own interests, and we have to make sure that we are um taking a balanced approach to the regulations that we are looking at in order to make sure that people can afford to continue to live in Westchester. Okay. Uh so with that being said, uh the topic today is our ETPA um uh buildings and units throughout Westchester. I know that you know this is generally a state um regulated um uh buildings or or units. Um however, we at the county also have our rent guidelines uh board that meet uh yearly to set those um those standards of what the increases will be, and so we also have a responsibility to those tenants to make sure that we have these kinds of conversations, right?
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