The head of a landlords’ advocacy group is claiming the city is intentionally delaying the release of a new vacancy survey that could potentially upend Kingston’s three-year-old rent control law. Hudson Valley Property Owners Association President Rich Lanzarone said Thursday that the city had invoked a section of the state’s Freedom of Information Law to put off making a decision on whether or not to release the results of a rental vacancy survey completed last month.

“They’re being cute about it,” said Lanzarone about the back and forth with the city over the data. “They’ve obviously got the results. They just don’t want anyone to see them.”

In 2022, Kingston opted into New York’s Emergency Tenant Protection Act rent control law. To qualify for inclusion in the law, municipalities must demonstrate a vacancy rate below 5 percent in properties covered by the law. The Kingston Common Council included a provision in its opt-in — one not required by state law — that called for the vacancy survey to be repeated every three years to ensure the city remains eligible for rent control. On May 1, City Director of Housing Initiative Bartek Starodaj sent a survey form to some of the 47 ETPA rent-controlled properties; unlike in 2022 when the survey included all eligible buildings, the current poll uses statistical sampling. Responses were due May 15.

Lanzarone said he filed a formal Freedom of Information Act request seeking the results of the survey shortly after the May deadline. State Freedom of Information Law gives government entities 20 days to either provide the requested information or explain why it is not subject to the law. Any document generated by any government entity is considered public information unless it falls within a narrow range of carveouts that shield sensitive data. Twenty days after he submitted the request, Starodaj responded. But instead of approving or denying it, Starodaj invoked a section of the law that provides additional time to make a decision if the information sought is voluminous or difficult to access.

“Your request requires the search of records received through multiple mediums and will require a reasonable period of time to identify, locate, review, and produce the responsive records,” Starodaj wrote in a June 17 response to Lanzarone’s FOIL request.

The response went on to say that the city would provide the documents or an official denial on or before Aug. 21. But Lanzarone said that he believes the response was simply a delaying tactic which would be followed in August by an outright denial of the request. An amendment to the ETPA sponsored by state Sen. Michelle Hinchey and enacted in 2023 lays out a process for communities to conduct ETPA vacancy surveys that includes a requirement that property owners produce rent rolls upon request. Those rent rolls include identifying information of tenants that, Lanzarone said, he believes may be the basis for withholding the information.

“I’m anticipating that on Aug. 21 I’m going to get a response that the information is not [subject to FOIL] by statute,” said Lanzarone. “Even though they could redact all of the personally identifying information.”

Lanzarone also questioned the city’s position that it needed more than 20 days to produce the data. Lanzarone noted that in 2022, with Mayor Noble and the Common Council ready to begin the opt-in process as soon as the supporting data was available, Starodaj was able to produce a nine-page report on the survey just three-and-a-half weeks after the deadline for response.

“So in 2022 it took three-and-a-half weeks and now they need three-and-a-half months, why is that?” said Lanzarone. “I’ll let you draw your own conclusions.”

Does It Make a Difference?

It is unclear whether a survey showing a vacancy rate above 5 percent in ETPA properties would immediately eliminate rent control in Kingston because the state law makes no mention of follow-up surveys. But such a result would almost certainly give the HVPOA a basis for another court challenge. (Last week, the Court of Appeals rejected the landlord group’s effort to toss out Kingston’s rent control opt-in based on alleged flaws in the 2022 survey). City officials have declined to comment on the survey, except to say that it would be released “this summer.”

The progressive activist group For the Many, which played a major role in pushing for rent control in Kingston and has organized tenant councils at ETPA properties, urged city officials to keep the study under wraps in order to maintain protections for residents. In a statement to Kingston Wire, FTM Political Director Brahvan Ranga said that the study had been conducted “in secret” instead of being overseen by the Kingston Common Council as was intended in the 2022 opt-in legislation. Because the follow-up survey was not mandated by the ETPA, Ranga said, release of the results should be at the sole discretion of the council.

Ranga also called for passage of the Rent Emergency Stabilization for Tenants act. The law, introduced by local Assemblymember Sarahana Shrestha (D-Esopus) and Manhattan state Sen. Brian Kavanagh would expand the scope of the ETPA by, among other things, allowing communities to opt-in based on publicly available data as well as vacancy surveys.

“We believe it is perfectly reasonable for [the Common Council] to delay it, especially if that will protect rent-stabilized tenants,” Ranga wrote. “HVPOA's resistance is a clear example of why we need to pass the REST Act, so these studies no longer threaten hard-won tenant protections. In the meantime, the Common Council should do whatever they can to protect rent stabilization in Kingston."