“For over nine million New Yorkers, rent is our biggest expense each month”
NEW YORK – Housing Justice for All, a statewide coalition of more than 80 organizations representing tenants and homeless New Yorkers, released the following statement in response to Governor Hochul’s State of the State.
The statement below can be attributed to Sumathy Kumar, managing director of Housing Justice for All:
“Tenants are half the state and a majority in every major city. For over nine million New Yorkers, rent is our biggest expense each month – which is why New York must expand and protect rent stabilization across the state and fully fund the Housing Access Voucher Program. Rent stabilization would make our rents affordable, giving us the foundation we need to build our lives. We are glad to see the Governor is thinking about freezing the rent for more seniors and people with disabilities – we need to expand rent stabilization and fully fund rental assistance to make rent affordable for the rest of New Yorkers. As President Trump cuts affordable housing funding, we are alarmed by the absence of any commitment to fund the Housing Access Voucher Program, which is essential to keeping New Yorkers stably housed..”
In the 2026 legislative session, Housing Justice for All is calling for expanding rent stabilization by passing the Rent Emergency Stabilization for Tenants (REST) Act (Kavanagh S4659/Shrestha A4877), protecting rent stabilization by defending the 2019 Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act, and fully funding and implementing the Housing Access Voucher Program (HAVP), for which a pilot program passed in the 2025 state budget. HJ4A supports reforming SCRIE and DRIE (S1457A/A5344 and S2451A/A7729) by raising and indexing income eligibility for senior and disabled rent freeze programs and allowing localities to reduce rent burden to one-third of incomes.