[0:01] foreign

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[0:28] oh my goodness

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[0:47] thank you

[0:49] [Music]

[1:15] other things

[1:17] [Music]

[2:06] thank you

[2:12] [Music]

[2:30] foreign

[3:21] [Music]

[3:25] [Applause]

[3:33] [Music]

[3:47] foreign

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[4:21] foreign

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[4:52] children and

[4:53] yeah

[5:00] [Music]

[5:19] thank you

[5:22] sustainability

[5:51] technology

[5:59] [Music]

[6:03] can you bring that out

[6:05] [Music]

[6:07] today

[6:22] foreign

[6:34] thank you

[6:40] so good evening everyone thank you for

[6:43] coming in entertainment for tonight this

[6:45] is our town hall meeting for the housing

[6:48] issues

[6:49] avoiding in and I just like to say we

[6:52] appreciate all of you taking the time to

[6:53] come out and voice your concerns and

[6:56] give us your feedback on

[6:58] City

[7:00] here we have a number of council members

[7:01] present looking forward to hearing your

[7:05] opinions and also feedback on this issue

[7:08] walk it from myself on the side of the

[7:11] panel I have councilmember John John

[7:14] Mayer myself Carla Williams we have

[7:18] council president

[7:19] Crestview council member uh John

[7:21] palamini councilman member of Dorian

[7:25] tutorial and also a council member

[7:27] Farley non-attendance tonight as

[7:29] councilman Carmel Patrick who would be

[7:32] with us here and looking forward to

[7:34] continuing the conversation when we

[7:36] bring back to our councilman

[7:40] in addition to that I'd also like to

[7:41] recognize mayor McCarthy who's here in

[7:43] attendance I don't know if you'd like to

[7:44] share to share words

[7:48] Fearless thing likewise

[7:51] so again you want to save the majority

[7:53] of the time to listen to your concerns

[7:55] so at this time I would like to turn the

[7:57] mic over to the council member

[8:04] thank you

[8:06] okay so again I want to welcome everyone

[8:09] here tonight

[8:11] um housing was a very important issue in

[8:13] our city

[8:15] um and you know as my time in the

[8:17] council I've been you know contacted by

[8:19] multiple people

[8:21] um talking about their inability to

[8:24] afford their rent

[8:25] um

[8:29] talk to and contacted by his landlord so

[8:32] we're saying that you know they are

[8:34] recovering from you know some of the

[8:36] legislation exact words are put in place

[8:38] during uh the pandemic that really uh

[8:40] left them and really a bad situation and

[8:43] unable to make the minimum payments to

[8:46] maintain the property so that sounds

[8:49] like a crisis to me and what we want to

[8:51] do today is kind of Welcome everybody in

[8:53] to kind of help create Collective

[8:55] solution right I'm a collective solution

[8:57] where we can work together we thought

[9:00] Partners on this and see you know what

[9:02] can the city do you know to assist in

[9:05] the organization and again this isn't

[9:07] just going to be us us talking at you

[9:09] tonight we really want to be listening

[9:11] to to your concerns but also your

[9:14] feedback and also your great wonderful

[9:16] ideas and how we can you know really

[9:19] um I want to highlight that tonight I

[9:21] want to make sure that we are here to

[9:23] give each other a respect to listen to

[9:26] one another

[9:27] um and work together collect

[9:29] community

[9:32] about some solutions that work for all

[9:35] and you're not just representing

[9:36] ourselves we are representing our fellow

[9:38] community members who are not connected

[9:40] with us here tonight so if you're hot so

[9:43] I trust that we all have been engaging

[9:45] in this conversation in the great spirit

[9:52] years ago

[9:54] thank you and again welcome to everyone

[9:56] I'm glad that you're here and that we

[9:57] are able to take us on so the first

[10:00] thing that I wanted to uh remind people

[10:02] to say if you didn't know that the

[10:05] e-wrap program is accepting applications

[10:07] again right now um they're accepting

[10:10] application processing applications

[10:11] through that have been received through

[10:14] the 30th of September

[10:17] and but they're continuing to uh

[10:20] receive applications and once they get

[10:22] through this week they'll funding it

[10:24] funding allows they'll move on to the

[10:26] second one so if you have people that

[10:28] are in that situation or if you as

[10:29] landlords want to submit your

[10:31] application I recommend that you do that

[10:33] and if you have an application that was

[10:35] submitted before the 30th of September

[10:38] then you know you should expect you to

[10:40] hear something soon because I did speak

[10:41] with um today the office of temporary

[10:44] disability assistance today and they um

[10:48] said yes they're processing through the

[10:49] study so

[10:51] um and I know it's a oh daunting process

[10:54] having to submit called a paperwork

[10:56] that's that's our documented sometimes

[10:59] so I just wanted to make sure that

[11:01] you're all aware of that and you can

[11:02] have the information on also to your

[11:04] tenants for for landlords that are here

[11:06] testing on to your tenants and for

[11:08] tenants that already pass it on to the

[11:10] landlord your landlord

[11:12] again we want to have Solutions and we

[11:14] understand as we set it up the pandemic

[11:16] and all of that so we're here to collect

[11:18] them and see how we can um make things

[11:20] work

[11:21] the other thing I wanted to just mention

[11:23] and because I am I understand

[11:26] some other events are and so I just want

[11:29] to remind people that the media can come

[11:31] from City connecting with 47

[11:34] 773 so

[11:37] um the rule of thumb is that you pay

[11:39] about a third of your income for housing

[11:42] so in that case that would be about

[11:44] thirteen hundred twenty seven dollars

[11:46] just letting you know that and I

[11:47] obviously don't know what everyone's

[11:48] income is they're using the median and

[11:50] then what that meant would be if you if

[11:52] that's what you mean and that is your

[11:54] gross income not from that that you

[11:55] bring home

[11:56] so um finally I just need to give you

[11:59] the uh

[12:01] housekeeping details recipe start out

[12:04] this door to your right

[12:07] um please if you have several please use

[12:09] them I'll put them on vibrates

[12:12] uh we do have three minutes to make your

[12:15] comments if there's a my phone whatever

[12:18] those didn't want to make them come up

[12:19] make comments especially so so we can

[12:22] make sure that they are captured by our

[12:24] video videographer back here the

[12:27] timekeeper is during the tour so she

[12:30] well when your parents are up we'll

[12:32] probably hear a film and then you can go

[12:35] over with it then you would actually

[12:36] just wrap that up

[12:38] that is is this time

[12:53] so I'll be diligently take notes on this

[12:55] side of the room if you wouldn't mind

[12:56] there's no sign in so as you feel uh

[12:59] comfortable to speak you can just walk

[13:01] up to the mic some of the questions that

[13:03] we're thinking to prompt some responses

[13:04] of what we're looking for as a

[13:06] comfortable body is in your opinion what

[13:09] are the challenges facing landlords

[13:10] tenants and homeowners from the city and

[13:13] then a couple of questions that would

[13:15] also be what are your recommendations to

[13:17] address this issue so as we've mentioned

[13:19] and also this conversation has contained

[13:21] at the council level we've heard a

[13:23] number of issues having this opportunity

[13:25] now to just hear again on this format if

[13:28] you wouldn't mind just as you are

[13:29] learning and able you can kind of start

[13:32] winding up on this side of the room this

[13:33] week

[13:36] okay

[13:54] sorry all right my name is toddler I'm

[13:58] vice president of Capital District

[14:00] Association there's no Property

[14:01] Management I'm also talking in the city

[14:03] of these type of districts but I'm

[14:07] really speaking on my on my own behalf

[14:09] at this point

[14:11] so

[14:24] challenges facing landlords and private

[14:27] homeowners include uh effectively the

[14:29] broad overreach of government and the

[14:32] growing inability of landlords to remove

[14:33] Bad actors from being the system has

[14:36] witnessed countless times during the

[14:38] ushan Mike and Sham in fact their

[14:40] mission monitorium under the unfunded

[14:42] Iraq that's the real problem another

[14:44] problem with challenges the increasing

[14:46] humility to properly screen perspective

[14:49] tenants and include those who receive

[14:51] those who are deemed to be unqualified

[14:53] on the basis of objective factors and

[14:55] we're getting crushed by having those

[14:58] different factors and one of the bases

[15:00] you can move from our third edition

[15:04] which has been sold to them as

[15:06] additional protections quote unquote the

[15:08] HS EPA of 2019 and other local laws are

[15:11] 429 much higher price than might

[15:15] otherwise be necessary because

[15:16] government Fiat has increased and

[15:18] expanded the risks that private owners

[15:20] must overcome increased risks of cost

[15:23] space by landlords must be offset with

[15:25] higher rents because while the

[15:27] government is quick to Levy penalties

[15:28] and delay action to correct the behavior

[15:31] of tenant government is not about to

[15:33] offsets across formed by landlords and

[15:35] efforts required by landlords to correct

[15:37] those bad Acts

[15:38] another significant challenge is the

[15:40] failure of the city building the codes

[15:41] departments to enforce the

[15:43] responsibilities of tenants

[15:45] any government finds it easier to Target

[15:47] and hold responsible tax bank property

[15:49] owners because they are an easier Target

[15:52] due to their unmovable State and the

[15:54] Enterprise

[15:56] can disappear with 30 days notice and

[15:59] never be held accountable landlords

[16:01] should not be punished for the bad Act

[16:03] of structures

[16:05] be the attendance for trespassers

[16:07] particularly when it comes to behaviors

[16:08] that destroy property pollute common

[16:10] spaces like streets and alleys and

[16:12] participate in nuisance behaviors that

[16:14] affect the community and reduce the

[16:15] quality of life landlords and Property

[16:18] Owners should not have to go through the

[16:19] extraordinary gymnastics to right the

[16:21] wrongest opposed by those who should

[16:23] their civil responsibilities as human

[16:24] beings living in our community

[16:27] has four recommendations I would say

[16:30] frankly stay away from the notion of

[16:32] rent control rent regulation make

[16:34] similar Concepts do not add further

[16:36] regulations to compete the rights of

[16:37] property owners who have worked hard and

[16:40] earned the ability to offer good

[16:42] functional housing defense instead work

[16:44] with property owners to even the playing

[16:46] field and tear down barriers that add

[16:48] unaffordable costs to landlords or

[16:50] Property Owners inevitably must be

[16:52] passed along to the tens participating

[16:55] Landlord Association meetings around the

[16:57] capitol District have open dialogue and

[17:00] seek to understand the business of the

[17:01] rental industry before passing

[17:04] additional regulations into law enforce

[17:06] the responsibility for one by tenants in

[17:08] terms of candidate properties that they

[17:10] have been given the opportunity to look

[17:12] at them

[17:15] [Applause]

[17:18] foreign

[17:31] and my problem is is that

[17:35] this like when they took the months of

[17:37] unleash I had four children even when

[17:40] I'm paying my rent on time and I have

[17:42] all my receipts to back me up they still

[17:44] asked us to leave without purpose like

[17:47] the thoughts that's how it goes

[17:51] and now my children have suffered from

[17:53] depression but keep having to move to

[17:55] school to school missing out on their

[17:57] friendships

[17:59] and my one of my children are suffering

[18:01] from a learning disability

[18:05] from the two of the months of my knees

[18:10] so I'm just asking for any kind of help

[18:13] to help or stability for my children or

[18:16] other people that's in the same

[18:18] situation as me

[18:20] I don't think the children should suffer

[18:26] [Applause]

[18:37] hi my name is

[18:40] and I'm here to speak against the

[18:43] proposed staff on the rent uh increases

[18:46] the landlords to charge

[18:50] and I just want to know why why the

[18:53] range against the landlord wide awake I

[18:56] don't know why people have such race

[18:58] against Lazarus we basically try to make

[19:01] things we have a lot of responsibility

[19:03] of paying the doctor's taxes and

[19:05] utilities

[19:07] and

[19:08] school taxes plus you know insurance and

[19:12] we need to feed our families and pay for

[19:14] our food so if you're putting a cap on the rental charge are you able to put

[19:21] a cap on utility costs for such a

[19:23] material costs the side rockets in some

[19:26] instances they're quad approval and

[19:28] prices in the insurance premium that's

[19:30] going up high and the labor costs

[19:32] probably at school taxes that you know

[19:34] always increasing if you put a cap on

[19:37] that of all these materials maybe you

[19:39] could entertainment

[19:43] and there were also some policy I'm here

[19:46] to speak against some policy that the

[19:48] city used to do I'm not sure if it's

[19:50] still an effect but the city-owned

[19:53] properties that were selling to an

[19:54] investor in the city

[19:56] they they were the investors that bought

[19:58] these properties were forced to reduce

[20:00] the number of units from four and three

[20:03] to one or two the maximum allowance was

[20:05] one or two and I know a lot of people

[20:06] that bought for us and they were forced

[20:10] to reduce it to two and you know some

[20:12] edges like this one actually reduce the

[20:14] number of units in the city uh the other

[20:17] thing is you know there were a lot of

[20:19] permits that were granted to building a

[20:22] home a bunch of apartment downtown

[20:24] apartment buildings and these were

[20:26] luxurious brand they had also like

[20:28] fourteen hundred dollars in a box

[20:29] and the city really never required you

[20:33] know these Developers

[20:35] who have to allocate a portion of their

[20:38] properties for uh to to low rental or

[20:43] low income individuals uh in the city of

[20:46] New York you know they do that at some

[20:47] other city so before you grab a permit

[20:50] you should really look into requiring

[20:53] these top Andy Corners uh to have some

[20:56] low-income individual correctly from

[20:58] there or allocate proportions like 10

[21:01] percent of the foreign

[21:05] the city also demolished a whole bunch

[21:07] of properties that were really good

[21:08] properties I don't know why we had a lot

[21:10] of money so you had a lot of money to

[21:13] demolish properties and if these

[21:15] properties where available now they were

[21:17] contributed to the office in the city

[21:20] but the opposite happened

[21:23] also there were a lot of incentive

[21:25] offers to home ownership in the city but

[21:27] another centers were offered to landlord

[21:29] on the contract the landlords were

[21:32] really

[21:33] convenient it would be by by Authority

[21:37] enforcement and the over enforcement of

[21:38] code

[21:39] we were charged we would charge a whole

[21:42] bunch of uh of uh fees and uh

[21:48] we you know just the administrative fee

[21:51] if the foreign

[22:01] [Music]

[22:09] um also if you're looking to have these

[22:12] if you if it doesn't have problems

[22:14] paying the rents why don't you guys look

[22:17] into expanding all these rental

[22:19] assistance programs like Section 8

[22:21] social service programs or era I mean

[22:25] you know we just announced that

[22:26] theoretical is taking application again

[22:27] but you know we suffer if these programs

[22:30] are not paying we suffer and then a lot

[22:33] of people I'm sure a lot of landlords in

[22:35] this room have suffered during the covet

[22:37] I lost a lot of money and it was never

[22:39] recovered by Iraq or whatever happened

[22:43] there was also the issue of police

[22:45] assistance the police is so partially

[22:47] you know a lot of landlords might agree

[22:50] the the police in this city is very

[22:52] partial to terrorists if there is a

[22:55] dispute between attendant and a landlord

[22:56] and the police is called him they are so

[22:59] partial against the landlord and

[23:01] protests and that's you know that's

[23:03] going to change I mean you know I don't

[23:05] know why the landlord are being escaped

[23:09] growth uh the UCA code of this of this

[23:12] crisis you know we have a crisis you

[23:14] know you're looking into that

[23:16] so the general equity in here is protest

[23:19] against landlord and that really must

[23:21] change

[23:22] landlord

[23:26] for the housing problem the city council

[23:28] please say so thank you

[23:31] [Applause]

[23:36] hi my name is

[23:39] you guys are going to lose

[23:42] find a cat

[23:44] vent

[23:45] so what about taxes definitely and if

[23:50] you guys feel the need to cap our income

[23:53] because that's my bread and butter so it

[23:55] should be half years because now you're

[23:57] starting about what you just that's my

[23:59] weight that's how I make a living that's

[24:00] how I eat that's how I pay my rent my

[24:03] mortgages my houses so then maybe should

[24:05] we should cap everybody start with the

[24:07] people on the piano

[24:09] that's how I feel and I think a lot of

[24:11] people feel like that awesome

[24:12] Schenectady PD understanding how they're

[24:15] not very

[24:16] adequate I have and whoever's hearing me

[24:20] think that I'm speaking wrong I'm not I

[24:22] have no problem this is what happened I

[24:24] have a tenant that has AK-47 in my house

[24:27] with three felonies I went to

[24:29] Schenectady PD told them to remove him

[24:31] he pulled the gun out of my door first

[24:33] yes and you know what happened I called

[24:36] at three o'clock they came back twelve

[24:38] his wife

[24:40] and said oh there's no problem

[24:43] also he destroyed my house now I'm going

[24:46] to fix my house up he destroyed it

[24:48] because his gun went off and they said

[24:51] to me you have to wait till he's evicted

[24:53] so right now I'm staying with it but now

[24:55] I have mold because he hit a pipe and

[24:59] now the water is saturating my my area

[25:02] it's ridiculous I mean I don't mind

[25:05] having a cap on anything but if we're

[25:07] gonna have cats everybody should have a

[25:09] cat

[25:11] black and white thank you

[25:14] [Applause]

[25:23] good evening everyone my name is Jamaica

[25:25] miles I've lived in this city my entire

[25:27] life and that's entire flight within

[25:30] rental properties from Hamilton Hill to

[25:32] Upper State Street throughout the city

[25:35] multiple zip codes and I've had

[25:37] experiences where property owners were

[25:40] absolutely amazing I've had experiences

[25:41] where property owners are absolutely

[25:43] horrible in the maintenance of the

[25:45] building and how they treated me and my

[25:46] children and how to spoke to me over a

[25:49] three-year period I live in three

[25:51] different homes where they all were sold

[25:52] from underneath me I've been living

[25:54] there with my children someone bought

[25:56] the property decided that they wanted to

[25:57] live in the property I have 30 days to

[25:59] move it happened three times over three

[26:02] years

[26:04] transiently inside the state of

[26:05] Schenectady is a major concern not just

[26:07] for tenants but especially for those

[26:09] that have children I happen to be a

[26:11] school board member just last night we

[26:13] were talking about the impact on our

[26:15] children and what transient housing what

[26:18] that means for our children the negative

[26:20] impact on their education we've heard

[26:22] from someone just earlier a specific

[26:25] point relating to that there are a

[26:28] number of things I wanted to share a lot

[26:30] of data with all of you to take back

[26:31] later but some things I want to lift up

[26:33] rent is going faster than Wages that's

[26:36] been true for decades it's not an

[26:39] opinion is an effect over the last 30

[26:42] years the National Stock of rent rental

[26:45] units actually grew more than 13 million

[26:49] but the lowest end of those rental

[26:51] properties fell by almost 4 million

[26:54] so affordable housing is actually

[26:56] decreased in the last 30 years while

[26:59] rental properties have increased Section

[27:01] 8 which was mentioned is massively

[27:03] underfunded and the waiting time is

[27:06] absurd sometimes taking years for

[27:08] individuals

[27:09] there is indeed a power imbalance

[27:12] between tenants and property owners

[27:14] I want to stress that Nolan's property

[27:16] should be destroyed it's not acceptable

[27:18] it's not okay

[27:20] and also we should not demand that any

[27:25] individual be homeless or like housing

[27:28] because of someone else's disrespect to

[27:31] property

[27:33] are we prioritizing the property of the

[27:35] people

[27:36] tenants don't have right to an attorney

[27:39] and they may fail to make legitimate

[27:41] defenses or or make basic mistakes or

[27:44] drastic consequences like going to the

[27:46] wrong courtroom and not showing up at

[27:47] the right date and time and when that

[27:49] eviction is filed it automatically is a

[27:51] mark against that tenant for years for

[27:54] them to even get housing after that

[27:56] so the opportunity to seal evictions

[27:58] even the ones that are filed even if

[28:01] they were held against them to ensure

[28:03] that someone had the opportunity to have

[28:05] a house for themselves

[28:07] um

[28:08] and to ensure that we look at the fact

[28:11] that rent was too high in 2020.

[28:14] and it only has escalated since then the

[28:17] market rate that some people speak about

[28:18] is something that is adjusted

[28:21] beyond belief I will wrap up

[28:25] because in May of this year the rent

[28:28] average across the U.S surpassed two

[28:31] thousand dollars

[28:33] that is something that many of us have

[28:35] to live with and deal with every single

[28:37] day again there are so many statistics

[28:39] and data that are part of a national

[28:42] study as well as looking at the impact

[28:44] and disparities of historically

[28:46] marginalized communities right here in

[28:47] this city

[28:49] everyone has a right for their property

[28:51] to taken care of and everyone has a

[28:53] right to have housing and to be housed

[28:56] and for that housing to be adequate and

[28:58] for them not to be called violations

[29:00] because if there's a code violation then

[29:02] it is not up to code for someone to live

[29:04] in that unit

[29:05] so let's find a way to make sure that

[29:08] there's housing for everyone regardless

[29:10] of their income status and be aware of

[29:13] the difference between rent control and

[29:14] rent stabilization because those are not

[29:16] the same things and we need to be

[29:19] informed about what the difference is

[29:21] and where their causes harm and where

[29:23] their difference thank you

[29:25] [Applause]

[29:32] good evening

[29:33] my name is James uh myself and my

[29:36] colleague over here we run the outreach

[29:39] program for State Bank which is located

[29:42] at 30 1344 uh Albany Street where we

[29:46] physically get out to the street we find

[29:48] and service running away and homeless

[29:50] you or youth with you know with the

[29:53] infant we house them as well I also

[29:55] personally own property I own 24 acres

[29:58] of land so

[29:59] I'm sorry I'm listening to

[30:03] a lot of landlords here

[30:05] and I believe that there's enough blame

[30:08] to go around on both sides you know and

[30:10] the young lady that just spoke before me

[30:12] I want to back up pretty much everything

[30:15] that you were saying you know again I'm

[30:17] physically out there in the streets all

[30:20] right we physically sit down we

[30:21] physically call landlords right to try

[30:24] and get you know get the young adults or

[30:27] a young adult with an infant Apartments

[30:29] but they're being discriminated against

[30:31] because they're coming from a shelter

[30:33] so yeah I understand that you may have

[30:36] tenants you know that have been bad for

[30:38] you but everyone is not the same you

[30:41] know we we had a kid that we got off the

[30:43] streets and no he changed his life

[30:46] around we got him into college he was

[30:48] going to SCC you know when he was doing

[30:50] all the right things and he was employed

[30:52] and he was making enough income

[30:55] you know but he was denied four times by

[30:58] landlords because he was coming from a

[31:00] shelter so is that right

[31:03] not and and homelessness in in the city

[31:07] of Schenectady and Albany and the

[31:09] surrounding counties are really really

[31:12] ticking up at a rampant pace

[31:16] like I said we're physically out there

[31:18] in the streets we get the numbers

[31:21] you know so like it's blamed to go on

[31:23] both sides

[31:25] you know and this this is a very very

[31:27] serious issue that you know if we had a

[31:30] conscience

[31:31] you know we wouldn't be biased against

[31:33] anyone you know we got some slim slim

[31:36] landlords in South there as well

[31:38] you know my oldest daughter 36 you know

[31:41] her landlord wouldn't even fix her

[31:43] bathroom uh her toilet pipes you know I

[31:45] had to come out my pocket and get it

[31:47] fixed and take him to court

[31:49] you know and he was still giving

[31:51] leniency by the judge

[31:53] you know so it works on both sides you

[31:56] know and I'm not pointing things at no

[31:58] one side in particular but I know what

[32:00] the facts are as well you know I'm

[32:02] dealing with it in my personal life

[32:05] thank you

[32:08] [Applause]

[32:12] good

[32:16] hi my name is Chris Morris I'm the

[32:19] director of Swift Schenectady landlord's

[32:21] influencing change

[32:24] and my script is home

[32:27] so I'm going in but I want to read the

[32:30] department Council that back in May of

[32:32] May 9th we had 20 page that I have with

[32:36] me 20 Page presentation of the problems

[32:39] we were seeing and the struggles that

[32:41] were in our community

[32:44] small way I've also talking about in

[32:46] particular we're suffering with property

[32:48] damage lack of

[32:50] rents

[32:52] Kobe did a number on us we've only been

[32:54] going for three years with the changes

[32:56] of laws and covered and the restrictions

[33:00] that have come on us and lacks with

[33:03] respect of the properties but okay so we

[33:07] made that presentation and we asked for

[33:09] help from the city we are asking for

[33:11] help as well

[33:13] so what we finally did was take it upon

[33:16] ourselves put together a task force and

[33:19] that's what we're working on with the

[33:22] city

[33:22] collaboration with the city and with

[33:25] code you need to know this that we're

[33:27] making efforts to make some changes that

[33:30] will affect the entire community and

[33:32] will be a plus for the entire Community

[33:34] to help landlords and tenants

[33:38] and this is a program that's going to be

[33:40] very proactive it's a pilot program it

[33:43] will require a vacation to

[33:47] landlords to start out with

[33:50] licensing certification program

[33:53] we're putting details together it should

[33:56] be an exciting process that people will

[34:00] participate in that's what we

[34:04] believe and they will then be rewarded

[34:06] because they will be recognized as

[34:08] people who are interested in their

[34:11] properties they want to maintain their

[34:12] properties

[34:14] the work uh with the community and you

[34:17] will be able to see an upgrade of the

[34:19] properties and we we have to say we are

[34:23] not we are totally aware of the fact

[34:25] that there's a good value of it on both

[34:28] sides of Defense

[34:30] let's face it drive up any Street in

[34:32] Schenectady and you may see beautiful okay okay and then boom

[34:38] something that's something that's nasty

[34:40] but there's a whole area that's nasty

[34:42] well

[34:43] whose responsibility is that somebody

[34:45] owns that property

[34:48] and somebody might be living here

[34:49] somebody owns somebody's not taking care

[34:51] of it

[34:52] and it is it embarrassment for the community

[34:58] it should be dealt with but somebody is

[35:01] whether it's an absentee landlord or

[35:04] whoever and the people who are living in

[35:06] it reflected it's a flight toe it is

[35:09] something that is

[35:11] very upsetting for the nearby community

[35:13] and for the

[35:14] further it gives us a bad name

[35:16] we who are trying to maintain and

[35:19] sustain

[35:20] housing need to feel that we are doing

[35:24] the right thing and this is what slick

[35:26] is about you know education and and

[35:28] teaching people how to do the right

[35:30] thing we also feel that the contract

[35:34] that you set up

[35:36] this is a this is a contract between

[35:39] tenant and landlord with rules and

[35:42] regulations just like any other rental

[35:44] contract okay the bottle for for that

[35:47] should be in place and it's very basic

[35:50] you have a product and you have a

[35:53] company you are younger and you have a

[35:55] your business and you have a customer

[35:57] and the contract should be

[36:00] and there's too much of not a you know

[36:03] the honoring isn't there you go in a

[36:06] part to it again and nothing happens

[36:09] um things go okay maybe and then all of

[36:12] a sudden there is no honoring of that

[36:14] contract or there's no payment of the

[36:16] rent or there's destruction of property

[36:18] so then then it's obvious that needs to

[36:22] be taken away if it were a car if it

[36:24] were furniture that would be taken away

[36:26] in the contract but it's different why

[36:28] is it different

[36:29] bargaining that bargaining power not

[36:32] there anymore

[36:33] so I'm being gay yeah that's a thing for

[36:38] me oh okay well I have to honor that but

[36:40] know that we are working very hard I say

[36:44] that we small landlords who care are

[36:47] working very hard and we are working the

[36:50] city is working with us and we're

[36:52] delighted with that CODIS working with

[36:54] us

[36:55] we are going to put something in place

[36:57] that should make a difference and there

[36:59] is that effort and I want you all to

[37:01] take notice of that as it comes

[37:06] we probably are going to get things

[37:08] slowly I'm going to say goodbye

[37:13] I'd like to ask you a question yes

[37:17] um you mentioned about the task force is

[37:18] this will tenants be a part of that too

[37:20] so that you have no views or is this

[37:22] task force just for landlords it will

[37:24] start with landlords it has to do with

[37:26] tests as well but landlords need to be

[37:29] of the educated thinking educated and

[37:33] they need to know you know not just

[37:35] you're not just going into a business

[37:37] you're going to be stipulations

[37:43] you need to know starting with landlord

[37:47] okay I just wanted to know if it's both

[37:49] or where you're starting quickly thank

[37:50] you

[37:57] yes hello everyone I I am Mariano

[38:00] president of the substrate Association

[38:03] and I'm here to talk about

[38:07] like absentee landlords like hesitate

[38:09] because I have another word for them

[38:11] because I didn't want to say that anyway

[38:13] I believe

[38:15] that

[38:17] landlords should be registered as a

[38:20] small business

[38:21] this way the city can regulate what

[38:24] they're doing

[38:25] they should be licensed if they don't

[38:28] follow the rules they should be shut

[38:30] down

[38:31] I know many tenants that are suffering

[38:34] out there that their landlords are not

[38:36] fixing their apartment that their

[38:38] toilets don't work that their furnaces

[38:40] don't but yet they're the ones that I

[38:43] put out on this street this is so wrong and I believe it would be so

[38:48] much easier for this city to go after

[38:51] these absentee landlords in our

[38:53] neighborhood we have

[38:55] but I will set it again we have some bad

[38:57] landlords that have destroyed our

[39:00] neighborhood they didn't rented to

[39:02] druggies to prostitutes we we've had

[39:05] shooting they prostitute young ladies

[39:08] and I have I take that Chris belief that

[39:15] um

[39:15] landlords are small businesses she has

[39:19] she had set it on tape that landlord so

[39:21] they should be regulated they should be

[39:23] licensed so that the city can

[39:36] that's fine

[39:40] because our neighborhood is destroyed

[39:43] because

[39:44] and it's very disturbing to me and I

[39:47] really really wish that the city would

[39:49] pursue the small business the license

[39:52] for the tenants thank you thank you

[39:59] foreign

[40:11] I faced many challenges as far as

[40:14] housing

[40:15] um

[40:16] but

[40:17] nowadays you know as an adult I have

[40:20] been personally homeless since 2019 for

[40:24] you know no particular reason other than

[40:26] you know just the landlord no longer

[40:29] wanting to continue lease you know I

[40:33] paid right on time every month

[40:36] there are so many issues going on so as

[40:39] far as you know the apartments that are

[40:41] being redeveloped and all the new

[40:43] buildings I've been doing there have

[40:45] been at least half a dozen buildings

[40:47] made that you know about four of them

[40:49] are anywhere from

[40:51] 900 to 14 to 600 a month for our studio

[40:55] to one or two bedroom like those are

[40:57] completely unaffordable and the two low

[40:59] income housings uh buildings that they

[41:01] just did are not even available to so

[41:04] many people as there's a wait list that

[41:05] goes back so many months and you have to

[41:08] need so many qualifications you have to

[41:10] have at least two times rent income you

[41:13] know uh verification you know just

[41:16] references and that's somebody who is

[41:18] youth who has only had one apartment and

[41:20] it wasn't the victim you know just when

[41:23] my lease ended you know I was told I had

[41:24] to leave for you know no particular

[41:27] reason so climbing an apartment tent has

[41:30] been very difficult you know does it

[41:31] matter I could be making anywhere from

[41:33] 400 to 800 a week I can have at least

[41:37] twice the amount for rent getting a

[41:39] responsible language

[41:41] something hard you know there are

[41:42] language we just take applications and

[41:44] you know try to do the application fee

[41:46] and actually never respond they do not

[41:47] pick up the phone do not answer the text

[41:49] when you call you can call for a month

[41:51] straight you know uh periodically you

[41:54] know of course not harassing the

[41:55] landlord you know trying to get a

[41:57] response from a landlord you know the

[41:58] whole years you know you can do at least

[42:01] two to three Apartments a day you know

[42:03] contacting landlords and you're lucky to

[42:05] hear back from one or two by the end of

[42:06] the week maybe even by the end of the

[42:07] month

[42:09] it is not just on tenants you know I

[42:11] know there I've been people who abuse

[42:13] the system I know uh people person who

[42:15] get government benefits and you know lie

[42:17] to the government and you know have the

[42:18] rent fully paid and you know abuse the

[42:21] system or you know there's tenant to

[42:22] destroy property before they leave or

[42:24] you have to be with the landlord and you

[42:26] know those are then considered bad

[42:28] tenants and you know they don't

[42:29] personally or they shouldn't ruin it for

[42:31] everyone involved you know it shouldn't

[42:33] be an issue for you know someone else

[42:35] trying to get into apartment like you

[42:36] know you had one person who might have

[42:38] had similar conditions to this person

[42:40] when they originally move in or when

[42:41] they started your application and they

[42:43] start their enrollment fee and

[42:45] your jobs are you know

[42:48] discriminated discriminating against for

[42:50] so many different reasons whether it be

[42:52] your background how much money you make

[42:54] if you have pets or not you know I

[42:57] understand that you know a lot of places

[42:59] do not accept pets either but you know

[43:01] some people have service animals and

[43:03] personally have a lot of disabilities so

[43:05] I have a service animal I had a service

[43:07] animal for almost eight years now so

[43:10] when it comes to my service you know

[43:13] getting an apartment or you know letting

[43:14] a

[43:22] you know it's going to go on both sides

[43:25] as far as damage

[43:27] and cannot even get a response government uh communist system

[43:31] section eight you know there are people

[43:33] who are 60 or you know who have been

[43:35] Section 8 for at least 10 12 20 30 years

[43:37] you know and have never left the system

[43:39] you know they could be doing a part-time

[43:42] job aside hustle you know we're sitting

[43:45] there in government assistance I feel

[43:46] like I should definitely be for the

[43:48] have lower income people who are you you

[43:51] know 18 to 24 you know 25 just getting

[43:53] in their first apartment you know that

[43:55] system should kind of be there to

[43:56] support us and not you know when we go

[43:58] into DSS we're told you know we either

[44:00] make too much money by making 400 a week

[44:03] or you know we don't make enough

[44:05] qualifications to even receive any kind

[44:07] of conversation

[44:12] [Applause]

[44:23] uh getting what you want

[44:25] first I'd like to thank you for putting

[44:28] on this town hall and giving everyone

[44:30] this opportunity to speak to you all

[44:32] about

[44:33] cities

[44:35] are important I hope that we do more of

[44:38] these moving forward throughout 2023

[44:40] give people absolutely coming tonight

[44:42] voice their opinion on the issue of

[44:45] concern

[44:47] um

[44:48] so costs have risen for everyone

[44:52] um we've been through a pandemic that's

[44:54] been this uh huge uh

[44:56] employment in our city I know personal

[45:00] stories like really both sides of issues

[45:02] but in particular I'm I've seen

[45:05] um rents kind of like the Moon that I'm

[45:09] not understanding what's driving you

[45:11] know the issue right I know we have

[45:13] issues with inflation we definitely went

[45:15] on the issues with wage increasing right

[45:17] but I'm seeing properties called

[45:19] Redstone properties that are like you're

[45:22] I'm talking about 1400 1500 1300 in

[45:25] communities that historically have been

[45:27] uh maybe half of that right and these

[45:31] increases have happened within the last

[45:33] um last few years and it's concerning

[45:35] it's a hardship onten it's across the

[45:37] board across the city I think everyone

[45:40] knows it we don't want uh as a city I'm

[45:43] sure we don't want anyone harmed on the

[45:45] rising costs we're not Property Owners

[45:47] definitely not tenants however we need

[45:50] to come up with a Solutions

[45:52] right now finding

[45:54] um a way forward that we can kind of

[45:57] assist tenants uh assist property

[45:59] managers with some of the costs that

[46:01] like some of the things that they've

[46:03] lost over the last couple years is

[46:04] important right I like yeah I've heard

[46:06] um an idea that you know property owners

[46:09] are like businesses and unfortunately

[46:11] for the Department owners you're in a

[46:13] business or something that's violence of

[46:14] people's lives right so it's going it's going to be a little bit different

[46:18] than only maybe your mom and pops or a

[46:21] car dealership it's it's your people

[46:23] have to have a place to live right

[46:25] um I've seen an article in the paper not

[46:27] too long ago that talked about some

[46:29] incentives that were happening a couple

[46:31] years ago towards home ownership how

[46:33] that had this great impact on the

[46:35] community right um

[46:37] specifically Community but it's also

[46:40] about immigration and how at one time we

[46:43] had all these dilapidated properties

[46:44] that we we started a program that

[46:47] allowed folks to get into homeownership

[46:49] that's a huge benefit to people if those

[46:52] opportunities there so thinking about a

[46:54] program that made Gwinnett to bear I

[46:56] think is really really important and

[46:58] finding a way to use the article money

[47:00] in a way that's effective in addressing

[47:03] um I think are like really huge losses

[47:06] in the last couple years for everybody

[47:08] um I think it's important I don't know

[47:10] exactly what that looks like today but

[47:11] that's just I'm just wasting my opinion

[47:13] based on the summer props on what I've

[47:15] heard from some of the proper members in

[47:16] here um this there isn't one side to this

[47:21] issue there isn't just one bad actor it

[47:23] isn't just the property owners like

[47:25] there's extremes on both sides because I

[47:27] think everyone is acknowledging that I

[47:29] don't think you started off in that

[47:30] place but I think everyone's gotten to

[47:31] the play okay they're like we're

[47:32] understanding like this is affecting

[47:34] everybody and that a solution needs to

[47:36] be comprehensive and comprehensive and

[47:39] help everyone as much as possible

[47:42] um I'm or any type of policy or

[47:45] legislation or program that would do

[47:47] that and I look forward to the city

[47:49] council uh coming up with something that

[47:51] addresses issue thank you

[47:54] [Applause]

[48:01] all right so first off I want to start

[48:03] with the biggest issue being what about

[48:05] those accessibility

[48:07] it's Aubrey what about those on

[48:09] disability they don't make that much a

[48:11] month that amount that 1400 you want in

[48:14] rent for a shoebox they don't make that

[48:16] that's not what they get from daily

[48:18] disabled where are we supposed to live

[48:20] those slums that we don't have landlords

[48:22] taking care of things we have improper

[48:24] working functionings that normally

[48:25] taking care of that either we're

[48:27] supposed to live in lower poverty slums

[48:30] with no landlords being dealt with

[48:31] because that's where we can afford

[48:34] in places that aren't even safe for us

[48:36] to reside who's going to watch out for

[48:38] that I mean I have a friend living in a

[48:41] van right now with a cat who can't even

[48:43] afford a hotel he can't afford a room

[48:45] for rent he can't afford any of that

[48:47] because the money to get into many

[48:49] places too much he needs money to

[48:51] survive every day just he can't put the

[48:54] extra side to get a roof over his head

[48:56] and now it's winter time and he's

[48:58] literally living in a minivan with a cat

[49:00] so what are these people on limited

[49:02] incomes that are disabled and sick to no

[49:05] choice no Faults of their own supposed

[49:07] to do with these Rising costs we're all

[49:09] about to be homeless

[49:11] that's all I have to say

[49:15] [Applause]

[49:20] hi good evening thanks for having this

[49:22] forum tonight my name is Lauren Connor

[49:24] and I've lived in Schenectady 30 years I

[49:27] moved here

[49:28] um on a whim and I'm still here and I've

[49:32] been owning property for the last 20

[49:34] years I bought my first property from a

[49:37] one that I rented from and one of the

[49:40] things that she said to me is I always

[49:41] want to make sure my properties that I

[49:44] write to my tenants are places that I

[49:45] would live and I feel that I have

[49:48] followed that motto ever since in the

[49:52] intervening years I've got to say I'm

[49:54] probably doing something wrong because

[49:56] I'm not getting fourteen hundred dollars

[49:58] rent for apartments I'm not getting

[50:01] thirteen hundred dollars rent I do have

[50:04] a couple of disabled people who

[50:06] whose rent is way below market value

[50:09] because I know I can't raise it because

[50:11] there is no other money and I'm the

[50:14] person that's not going to kick them out

[50:15] I have Section 8 tenants I have full pay

[50:18] tenants and so my concern is

[50:22] what about these people I think the

[50:24] action that needs to be taken is that

[50:26] there are people out there who are on

[50:27] disability who don't have a lot of funds

[50:30] why aren't they getting additional

[50:32] support

[50:33] um people have a right to affordable

[50:35] housing but

[50:37] a lease is a contract and as an owner

[50:40] whether I'm paying a mortgage or taxes

[50:43] or all the fees I'm responsible for that

[50:45] property and I have a right to charge a

[50:48] living not a living wage but a living a

[50:51] rent that is reasonable for me to make a

[50:53] few bucks beyond what I'm making to

[50:56] Beyond paying taxes and property and Etc

[50:58] et cetera

[50:59] um

[51:00] we live in Schenectady we're not getting

[51:03] rich here so I don't need to be

[51:05] sarcastic but if anybody thinks they're

[51:06] going to get rich renting property in

[51:08] Schenectady they're in the wrong place

[51:11] um

[51:12] anyway I just wanted to say that I I try

[51:15] to be reasonable and my hope for the

[51:18] city is that there will be Outreach to

[51:21] tenants you know one lady who talked

[51:23] about a couple people talked about being

[51:25] evicted with 30 days notice New York

[51:28] State implemented a 90-day notice right

[51:30] so I don't understand why they don't

[51:33] know that it has to be

[51:35] I've been in a place for a period of

[51:36] time it increases over time where's

[51:39] their lack of Education

[51:42] um so and that's basically all I had to

[51:45] say I just um thanks for having this and

[51:47] I know there's a lot going on here that

[51:50] things are getting a little crazy with

[51:52] red but we all have you know I have a

[51:55] right to provide good housing to people

[51:57] but I also have a right to

[52:01] um not be taking advantage of

[52:04] it

[52:04] [Music]

[52:05] [Applause]

[52:11] hi good evening my name is

[52:15] connected in New York from 2005.

[52:18] to address the issue that you have which

[52:21] is an opinion what are the challenges

[52:22] let me tell yourself as a decent

[52:25] landlord with property that is limitable

[52:28] my challenge is 10 someone to pay rent a

[52:32] lot of times

[52:33] since the pandemic they feel that they

[52:36] have a conditionary reason to just live

[52:38] for free

[52:39] and they do not use the police system we

[52:41] hear all of this about bad landlords bad

[52:44] landlords who they use code enforcement

[52:47] they take off their smoke detectors

[52:49] of the stone they do anything to stop

[52:53] the pain there is no 30 days there is a

[52:56] 90 day anyone who owns a property that

[52:59] makes it a LLC has to get a lawyer

[53:02] because now you are a corporation which

[53:06] puts you under a Temperance a totally

[53:08] different tax brackets

[53:11] and insurance Mercantile insurance

[53:13] policy so whoever does that govern

[53:16] yourself accordingly because you don't

[53:18] own your property it is a third party

[53:19] Provider by an LLC which is a limited

[53:22] liability next on top of that as far as

[53:26] a homeowner when we take these

[53:28] properties that we try to transition

[53:30] them for proper living conditions

[53:33] there's a lot of situations we create

[53:36] programs that build false reality yes

[53:39] you get a house but you need a twenty

[53:41] thousand dollar in the bank to show me

[53:43] that food if you struggling if you have

[53:45] that it's just so many things I'm not

[53:47] doing it attendance I'm not going to

[53:49] landlord I am bringing the system we

[53:52] went all about years ago doing property

[53:54] registration for non

[53:59] but it didn't go because we stay on the

[54:03] property we transition into a business

[54:04] that's not occupying it goes away so

[54:08] this is a build up a frustration for me

[54:10] because I have tenants living in houses

[54:12] that I can't get rid of even when they

[54:14] have firearms even when they're creating

[54:16] mold even when they're doing everything

[54:18] nobody's sharing information it's like

[54:20] the monetary agreement it's only for the

[54:23] landlord when we talk about increase in

[54:26] rent nobody's talking about decreasing

[54:28] taxes you have to have a certain amount

[54:30] of monetary flow to even survive is

[54:34] connected into owner

[54:36] the reason why it seems so simple is

[54:38] because properties in Schenectady have

[54:40] always been below market value of the

[54:42] entire state

[54:43] so people have this idea that they

[54:46] should live closer to free than what's

[54:49] happening to the landlord now taxes go

[54:51] up to five thousand how can your rent

[54:52] stay at 200

[54:54] I mean you don't go into this to take

[54:56] care of the tenant your goal is to have

[54:58] a viable living we know this is not

[55:00] Afflicted States or area because we have

[55:03] too many other tax laws have been left

[55:04] away so it has to be looked at in a

[55:08] collaboration of what's the best thing

[55:10] for the community for the tenant for the

[55:13] landlord and for to perpetuate home

[55:15] occupancy and whole ownership that's all

[55:18] I gotta say

[55:19] [Applause]

[55:26] hi good evening uh bird acquires

[55:31] um and uh pastoral virgin Memorial in

[55:33] science church so I want to say

[55:35] um first you know I've done a lot of

[55:37] going to different houses visiting

[55:39] members or visiting people in the

[55:41] community and I can start walking with

[55:43] the condition of some of the houses that

[55:44] have been related I have a question of

[55:47] how many inspectors we have that work

[55:49] for the city that would go out to

[55:51] inspect these houses I understand I've

[55:54] been a landlord so I understand having

[55:55] tenants that don't properly take care of

[55:58] your you know your house and things like

[56:00] that but some of the things that I have

[56:01] seen are flat out like colonizations

[56:03] like why is somebody living here no one

[56:05] should be living here

[56:07] um so some of the things I think may be

[56:10] happening

[56:11] um is that okay so it doesn't take much

[56:13] for a landlord to know that they can

[56:14] raise the right time if Section 8 is

[56:16] giving you more money obviously the

[56:17] rates are going to have gone up or you

[56:19] look at what the

[56:21] um the information that Health puts out

[56:22] on I can go up on the rent because it's

[56:24] going up on their numbers I can go up

[56:26] online however

[56:28] um and and the cost of rent has gone up

[56:30] nationally by 13

[56:32] um but I would say that Schenectady is

[56:34] not Brooklyn you know not Harlem okay

[56:36] people are not making that kind of money

[56:38] around here the uh council president

[56:40] mentioned the other night the media uh

[56:42] income in this city so rates have gone

[56:47] up the salaries have not and so people

[56:50] eventually are going to get pushed out

[56:52] of their house and I've had that happen

[56:53] to some of my members already they can't

[56:55] afford the new possibility that is

[56:57] coming okay so

[57:00] um so that's one piece so the other part

[57:02] is um

[57:03] can the city get any kind of incentive

[57:06] like I know you guys can't do anything

[57:08] about what HUD is saying or what section

[57:11] 8 is saying about what Rick costs should

[57:13] be I guess outside of your you know uh

[57:16] Authority but maybe incentives for

[57:19] landlords uh who do keep their property

[57:22] or I I don't know you know I'll leave

[57:25] that to y'all but but I think that if

[57:28] that was happening then it kind of would

[57:31] balance things out a little bit and then

[57:33] the last thing I want to tell you is

[57:34] about a member of my church who actually

[57:36] lives in Virginia right now okay she was

[57:39] asked by her landlord to move he said

[57:42] I'm I'm losing a family member in went

[57:45] over there without us open her pack age

[57:47] was a family member she could not find a

[57:49] place that Schenectady she could afford

[57:50] she ended up moving with family to

[57:52] Virginia I went by the house a couple

[57:54] weeks later there was a for rent sign in

[57:56] the window

[57:58] so he was not moving a family member and

[58:00] he probably just wanted to raise the

[58:02] rate and didn't wanted to do to do with

[58:03] the poor Dark Soul who had been in my

[58:06] house for the last 15 years

[58:08] so I think things like that are

[58:10] happening where people are being pushed

[58:13] out and I don't want to see that happen

[58:14] I've been here for four years now

[58:16] pastoring I've been connected is cool

[58:18] you know nice people and everything but

[58:21] I'm watching this happen to uh the

[58:24] people that I serve in my congregation

[58:26] and in the community where their rents

[58:28] are going up but their salary was just

[58:30] staying the same

[58:33] foreign

[58:58] from one end of the spectrum to the

[59:01] other

[59:02] the problem that I think that we have as

[59:04] a community

[59:06] um is that you know many years ago a

[59:09] group of landlords knew owners came in

[59:12] and they you know improved the property

[59:15] but then they started increasing the

[59:17] rents

[59:19] um you know I own I only five pieces of

[59:21] property Here in Schenectady one piece

[59:24] is in Bellevue and my tenants I have a

[59:27] two family and two uh two family two

[59:31] bedrooms each I'm getting 900 each and I

[59:36] just went up for the first time last

[59:38] year so my tenants are asking what are

[59:41] you going to go up on the rent I said no

[59:43] because as anybody here indicated that

[59:48] the income hadn't gone up but there's

[59:51] people that came into our community I

[59:53] made sure to tell you that I've been a

[59:55] landlord in Schenectady for 30 years

[59:57] some people are very new to our

[59:59] community and I'm talking about in the

[1:00:01] last five to ten years and even maybe

[1:00:04] not even that long as a result they

[1:00:07] changed the face of our landscape

[1:00:12] as a landlord I think we need vertical

[1:00:14] caps I think we need the whole landlord

[1:00:17] responsible to make sure that the

[1:00:20] property is of the cold and livable but

[1:00:23] I also think that the tenants have to

[1:00:25] pay the rent all those excuses about all

[1:00:28] you know the income being changed or the

[1:00:30] social worker so I know disability to

[1:00:32] change regardless of what happened

[1:00:34] so it was on fixed income you didn't

[1:00:37] lose a month and some of y'all allow

[1:00:39] money because it some people got the

[1:00:41] unemployment and extra 600 and all that

[1:00:44] so that whole gamut that Society put out

[1:00:47] there awareness and then not to pay

[1:00:49] their bills was the wrong thing to do

[1:00:52] and now we're here people so we all have

[1:00:55] to be responsible here and our system

[1:00:58] our elected officials y'all have put

[1:01:01] some breaks on some of these rental cap

[1:01:02] these words because you got landmarks

[1:01:04] that are Charter 1300 or 1400 for

[1:01:07] something that these people cannot pay

[1:01:09] more than a thousand or nine hundred

[1:01:11] dollars

[1:01:12] HUD image they're increasing the

[1:01:16] allotment only in certain communities

[1:01:19] and only for certain people as a social

[1:01:23] worker I did own business and I used to

[1:01:26] say you know what I used to call mental

[1:01:27] housing Mr Harmony

[1:01:28] why don't let this go you got people

[1:01:31] with the ceilings falling down and

[1:01:33] whatever and you're coming to check for

[1:01:34] them

[1:01:35] so we do need some Watchdogs out here

[1:01:38] people and if that's not a good word but

[1:01:40] that's what I'm saying we need our code

[1:01:42] enforcement to do what they got to do so

[1:01:44] that people can live decently but we've

[1:01:47] got to put a cap on these rights and

[1:01:49] then also for some of the homeowners

[1:01:50] please give them a little uh yeah which

[1:01:52] used to be a ship program Schenectady

[1:01:55] Home Improvement program for landlords

[1:01:57] for owners who are also struggled

[1:01:59] because you guys can handle it to the

[1:02:01] show so this is a big problem for

[1:02:03] everybody that will be accountable and I

[1:02:06] just wanted to thank you guys for your

[1:02:07] time

[1:02:10] foreign

[1:02:22] [Music]

[1:02:40] this is

[1:02:42] hi uh Brennan Savage I just wanted to

[1:02:46] make the comment that sometimes I'm not

[1:02:50] a landlord I'm a homeowner but we also

[1:02:53] have to be cautious about whatever

[1:02:54] regulations uh or if there's something

[1:02:58] you can suggested rent to cash or rent

[1:02:59] control if that's put in we also might

[1:03:03] risk putting Schenectady at a

[1:03:05] disadvantage because

[1:03:07] one thing is the proven way to make your

[1:03:10] renter stabilized is to make sure that

[1:03:12] the number of units in a city keeps up

[1:03:15] with the demand housing and so if

[1:03:18] there's been studies that were have been

[1:03:20] done that say that if a city puts in

[1:03:24] rent control they sometimes become less

[1:03:27] uh desirable to developers both large

[1:03:31] and small who might like to build new

[1:03:34] housing here and because

[1:03:38] of unintended consequences those number

[1:03:40] of units do not increase

[1:03:43] and then when the number of units don't

[1:03:46] increase to keep up with the demand of

[1:03:48] housing then you result in higher

[1:03:51] Enterprises so I hope the city council

[1:03:54] doesn't rush into anything without

[1:03:55] looking at what other possible

[1:03:58] unintended consequences that there might

[1:04:01] be uh and you know I know there's

[1:04:04] probably just a philosophical

[1:04:06] disagreement to some people

[1:04:09] on what the role of valuation should be

[1:04:12] if you're a person who owns a two-family

[1:04:15] home

[1:04:17] um and you live in one and you rent out

[1:04:19] one unit to the other person is it

[1:04:21] really the role of the government to say

[1:04:23] what you should be charging for rent

[1:04:26] um some people might say yes I

[1:04:29] personally say no but

[1:04:32] I I would just hope that the city

[1:04:34] council doesn't rush into anything

[1:04:39] that might happen if you will to create

[1:04:42] some regulations such as rent control

[1:04:47] [Applause]

[1:05:04] I'm a realtor I can tell you that there

[1:05:07] are lots of landlords in the city of

[1:05:11] Schenectady they are very very concerned

[1:05:13] on one hand they are not able to collect

[1:05:16] the rent and they cannot even afford to

[1:05:20] fix some feminists exam by certain

[1:05:24] tenants not some courses we don't have

[1:05:26] lots of good tenants and so in that

[1:05:29] situation they they want to sell and or

[1:05:33] they couldn't even maintain the property

[1:05:36] in the principal condition

[1:05:39] so that in turn is going to impact the

[1:05:41] community and the surrounding houses

[1:05:44] that's number one regarding to existing

[1:05:47] to some existing networks and they want

[1:05:51] to sell that's why on the other hand

[1:05:54] when I I also felt because singer

[1:05:58] returned ourselves to investors in the

[1:06:00] capital region I try to bring them to

[1:06:03] Schenectady okay hopefully they can

[1:06:06] purchase

[1:06:07] property needs to activate providing

[1:06:10] more rental units so we can inject

[1:06:12] application or make it better conditions

[1:06:14] properly but I cannot convince them even

[1:06:18] though I run the numbers I show them

[1:06:20] it's connected the property value is

[1:06:24] lower I try to entice them for the money

[1:06:27] you invest in Albany you can potentially

[1:06:30] buy more property is expected but they

[1:06:33] set you know just because first of all

[1:06:36] they concerned about the condition you

[1:06:39] know rentability condition and they also

[1:06:42] said if there's a rent control I

[1:06:44] couldn't even make enough money how can

[1:06:46] I improve my property so I just want to

[1:06:50] share those information to the council

[1:06:52] so hopefully help the council to get

[1:06:55] information

[1:06:57] the information

[1:07:00] thank you

[1:07:02] [Applause]

[1:07:18] um

[1:07:19] [Music]

[1:07:25] and regarding of controlling rent

[1:07:30] um

[1:07:31] I don't see why should Landmark any

[1:07:34] consequence for you know civilizing the

[1:07:38] rent because

[1:07:40] um during the coffee

[1:07:42] we had a few years

[1:07:45] you know with telling the landmark but

[1:07:48] watch like that go through and the

[1:07:50] damages

[1:07:53] um

[1:07:54] and the damages what caused everything

[1:07:57] in the store from Home Depot to Lowe's

[1:07:59] everything right

[1:08:01] and I don't see why the city of senatory

[1:08:06] should involve in

[1:08:09] um stabilize rent when the cost of

[1:08:12] everything gone up taxes goes up uh the

[1:08:16] insurance homeowner insurance they raise

[1:08:19] it and for certain little cars they

[1:08:22] can't raise insurance and you cannot

[1:08:24] find affordable insurance so

[1:08:30] comparing in other parts in New York

[1:08:33] it's not happening

[1:08:35] Holdings correctly and we are not

[1:08:39] getting any help even from the city

[1:08:41] because we have a hidden taxes and

[1:08:44] plenty of us don't know about it

[1:08:46] like if you want to put a window you

[1:08:49] have to get a permit to put it

[1:08:51] if the tenant break anything there shift

[1:08:54] up whatever you have to get a permit and

[1:08:56] every item that you put here you have to

[1:08:59] get a permit or you can charge 500 if

[1:09:02] the city comes and stop you from working

[1:09:06] so all this money that adding to the

[1:09:08] landline expense is not confident

[1:09:11] so

[1:09:13] I don't know I came here 2003 and what I

[1:09:16] saw in this connection in 2003 it was I

[1:09:20] would say it was very bad condition and

[1:09:24] as I live and I see it improve a lot and

[1:09:28] this is what the city is doing it's

[1:09:30] gonna drive everybody who wants to come

[1:09:33] here and to be here from the city and

[1:09:35] it's going to be like back in the days

[1:09:38] 15 years ago thank you

[1:09:40] foreign

[1:09:54] I get to hear

[1:09:57] um a lot of

[1:09:58] uh conversations from both landlords and

[1:10:02] tenants and um so in looking at the

[1:10:06] questions that were posed to us and

[1:10:08] listen to the comments that have come

[1:10:11] across the room

[1:10:13] um I was slightly confused because it

[1:10:16] seemed like we interchanged the word

[1:10:19] stabilization with control

[1:10:22] and if we're looking at a possible

[1:10:25] solution that we might be looking at

[1:10:27] stabilizing rent versus controlling

[1:10:31] um records the other thing was that

[1:10:33] people mentioned maybe this is when we

[1:10:36] turn the floor back over to you is

[1:10:39] um that maybe as as you represent the

[1:10:42] city you can talk about where the taxes

[1:10:45] have been because being home over here

[1:10:49] and also being a tax landlord I'm trying

[1:10:53] to figure out where the taxes have and

[1:10:56] how much the taxes have put increased I

[1:10:58] know I'm accounting that I'm going to

[1:11:00] spend flat and I think on the city and I

[1:11:03] had to get some clarification on this

[1:11:04] that the percentage that went up or down

[1:11:08] um have been fairly low so maybe if we

[1:11:11] can have those kinds of facts so that

[1:11:13] when people keep putting up taxes I'm

[1:11:15] not sure what taxes are going up are

[1:11:18] they in the city and so if you walk in

[1:11:21] education on that that would be great

[1:11:23] and then if possibly when we're falling

[1:11:26] into Power the word rent stabilization

[1:11:30] and rent control then um

[1:11:34] that we bring a focus on what it is that

[1:11:36] may be a possible solution then we'll be

[1:11:39] strong on

[1:11:40] the owners

[1:11:43] um into thinking that we're trying to

[1:11:44] control it as possible

[1:11:47] um finally I just say that you know it's

[1:11:50] good to have these kinds of forms forums

[1:11:53] and I work in public relations before we

[1:11:55] have lots of forms that we listened we

[1:11:57] had listened forums and listened to

[1:11:59] people when there were already things

[1:12:01] that were in place that was already

[1:12:03] outside of the purview of the group that

[1:12:05] was system they were already done deals

[1:12:07] and so that whatever the recommendations

[1:12:09] whatever the considerations that you all

[1:12:13] put forth is that they have everybody's

[1:12:17] voice involved I I appreciate the task

[1:12:20] force that you were talking about and

[1:12:22] I'm glad that the council president

[1:12:25] um mayor who said that asked the

[1:12:28] question whether or not to pretend it's

[1:12:30] involved in the conversation so part of

[1:12:33] my job is also to build coalitions and

[1:12:35] then those coalitions we bring everybody

[1:12:37] these boys to the table so that you get

[1:12:39] all sides of the of the equation before

[1:12:43] coming up with the solution and thank

[1:12:45] you for your time

[1:12:47] [Applause]

[1:12:51] so um

[1:12:57] good evening my name is

[1:13:00] Schenectady for 27 and a half years

[1:13:03] I just want to urge the city council in

[1:13:07] the city of Schenectady to

[1:13:09] strongly support homeownership

[1:13:12] opportunities for people

[1:13:15] um often holding a mortgage is less than

[1:13:18] paying rent I pay under 900 a month for

[1:13:22] my mortgage I don't think that I could

[1:13:24] afford a 1400 rent to be honest so I do

[1:13:28] hope that the the city will fund down

[1:13:31] payment assistance that you'll find

[1:13:33] homeownership Opportunities

[1:13:36] um work closely with the homeownership

[1:13:37] programs in the city A Better Community

[1:13:39] neighborhoods to help people understand

[1:13:42] how to become homeowners successfully I

[1:13:46] think a lot of people feel like they

[1:13:48] can't become homeowners and don't

[1:13:51] understand that they are able to become

[1:13:53] homeowners you don't need 20 percent

[1:13:55] down payment in order to be a homeowner

[1:13:57] there's there are a lot of programs out

[1:14:00] there that will take us as little as

[1:14:01] three percent and the other thing is um

[1:14:05] uh Section 8 actually does allow for the

[1:14:09] opportunity for somebody who holds a

[1:14:11] certificate to become a homeowner using

[1:14:15] uh their Section 8 homeownership uh

[1:14:18] voucher and the municipal Housing

[1:14:22] Authority does have to decide each year

[1:14:24] how many of their certificates are going

[1:14:26] to allow to be used for home ownership

[1:14:29] and it is a pretty long process usually

[1:14:32] for people who are in public housing to

[1:14:34] get to the point where they're ready to

[1:14:35] be a homeowner and so that would be

[1:14:37] another place to work really closely

[1:14:38] with Better Community neighborhoods

[1:14:40] thank you

[1:14:49] hello it's me again is I like to

[1:14:53] piggyback on the latest comment

[1:14:55] regarding to home ownership and first of

[1:14:57] all again I'm a realtor and representing

[1:15:00] people to buy or sell in the capital

[1:15:02] region so what I have to do is plan

[1:15:05] YouTube is I did a little research

[1:15:07] especially regarding to U.S census data

[1:15:10] I shared with steel council members so

[1:15:13] in the compared to city of Albany and

[1:15:16] city of Schenectady

[1:15:19] [Music]

[1:15:26] versus the city of Albany only 37 so

[1:15:31] there's eight percent city of

[1:15:33] Schenectady leading home ownership by

[1:15:36] eight percent so and I would like to say

[1:15:39] is progress to men and his home

[1:15:42] ownership program

[1:15:43] and if we can comfortable can come up

[1:15:47] with better Solutions or policy will

[1:15:50] help a city citizens in Schenectady to

[1:15:54] obtain more homeowner ownership than

[1:15:57] will actually decrease the demand of

[1:16:00] Iran vendors that will also help to

[1:16:04] achieve the rights too

[1:16:07] so a couple of things and actually

[1:16:09] recently based on my discussion and was

[1:16:12] some of the individuals and also

[1:16:15] encounters with some homeowner buyers I

[1:16:19] thought chooses potentially you know the

[1:16:21] council can look at number one currently

[1:16:24] in our property as a homeowner or

[1:16:27] landlord where you own the property in

[1:16:29] the city of Schenectady you could have

[1:16:32] you get property tax bill in the

[1:16:35] property tax bill if you take detailed

[1:16:37] look it's not just property tax at all

[1:16:40] it also added sewer and water and also

[1:16:46] trash belt and yes we do know as home

[1:16:49] owner we should pay them and there's no

[1:16:52] doubt about it however when you add all

[1:16:55] those fees in the tax bill when people

[1:16:59] wanted to purchase a house sometimes

[1:17:02] actually jeopardizing their opportunity

[1:17:05] to get along why because lenders look at

[1:17:09] paxville but they don't don't look at

[1:17:12] the detail text belt to them from Naked

[1:17:15] Eyes is kept liability they look at the

[1:17:19] lump sum of everything

[1:17:21] so if the city can split what is pure

[1:17:24] property tax

[1:17:30] which including water which includes

[1:17:33] sewer and trash that will help potential

[1:17:36] homeowners to secure finances

[1:17:40] at low cost to say except a potentially

[1:17:43] another postage that's all

[1:17:47] [Applause]

[1:17:55] good evening everyone my name is Nikita

[1:17:58] Hardy

[1:17:59] um I am the affirmative action manager

[1:18:01] for the county of Schenectady I'm also

[1:18:03] commissioner on the Human Rights

[1:18:05] Commission and president of the report

[1:18:06] for the YWCA of Northeastern New York

[1:18:09] just wanted to point a couple things out

[1:18:13] um when I heard about this forum I was

[1:18:15] happy to hear that it was coming to play

[1:18:18] I'm happy to see that we have various

[1:18:21] voices in this room I'm from Brooklyn

[1:18:24] I've been in this area now for seven

[1:18:26] years

[1:18:27] um and when I first came here and I

[1:18:29] started seeing a lot of the activity

[1:18:31] that was happening over the far too

[1:18:34] familiar and over the last few years the

[1:18:37] pandemic

[1:18:38] surprisingly but not too surprisingly

[1:18:40] set it up you've seen so much

[1:18:42] development here at Schenectady

[1:18:45] just Envision that

[1:18:48] um but what I don't see is

[1:18:51] um postings of affordable housing units

[1:18:53] in these developments

[1:18:55] um it begs to question the funding

[1:18:58] sources and whether there was any

[1:18:59] federal funding or city county Etc if

[1:19:04] there are requirements for such it's not

[1:19:06] being highly advertised and even then

[1:19:09] those processes tend to be cumbersome as

[1:19:11] we heard from the person who spoke

[1:19:14] earlier today in Orange thank you

[1:19:17] um but we need to look at this as a

[1:19:19] holistic approach it seems like we're

[1:19:21] having this conversation

[1:19:24] um survival versus thriving

[1:19:26] um and yes our perspectives and lived

[1:19:29] experiences are different we're all

[1:19:31] fighting each other in a fight that

[1:19:34] didn't start

[1:19:36] so I wanted to sit back look at the

[1:19:38] bigger picture not just to now but even

[1:19:40] the future because if it's like this now

[1:19:42] how's it going to be people are being

[1:19:44] priced out of their homes not just the

[1:19:47] tenants who are living there but the

[1:19:48] landlords are looking to

[1:19:50] um how the pieces connected and those

[1:19:54] that are that it's working for are not

[1:19:56] the people

[1:19:58] so um on the second hand at the YWCA

[1:20:04] we have people who are looking for

[1:20:05] houses we have funding to pay for rent

[1:20:08] we have a list long that's approved for

[1:20:12] people to go into housing with their

[1:20:13] children

[1:20:14] but landlords are not letting them in

[1:20:17] they're not even considerable

[1:20:19] we have to think about what it is that

[1:20:21] we're doing

[1:20:22] and look at the effects and yes we have

[1:20:25] those key terms about rental control and

[1:20:27] Rental stabilization all these big words

[1:20:29] but I think we need to look at the

[1:20:31] people that's what we need to look at

[1:20:33] um I think I got all of that what I hear

[1:20:36] a lot is an Envy we called it then dance

[1:20:38] real fun not in my backyard nobody wants

[1:20:40] them in their backyards everywhere

[1:20:42] where are we putting people these are

[1:20:43] people yeah that's it thank you for everything tonight

[1:20:56] um I just want to answer by highlighting

[1:20:58] one thing before we continue mine in

[1:21:02] this room this is what community looks

[1:21:05] like and we are actively engaging in a

[1:21:08] collective conversation that's been very

[1:21:10] solution based and though initially you

[1:21:13] know some there might have been some you

[1:21:15] know inclinations that it was this

[1:21:17] conversation was going to be landlord

[1:21:19] first tenant and what the condition that

[1:21:22] we as a community are created in this

[1:21:24] space we've been able to hear that

[1:21:26] there's a lot more and common interests

[1:21:29] right you hear um tenants saying like

[1:21:31] you know I want to be someplace to say

[1:21:33] back and forth and landlord was saying

[1:21:35] as a landlord I would love to have

[1:21:37] lieutenant and my house for all a long

[1:21:40] period of time that I can trust that

[1:21:42] honor that took care of my property so I

[1:21:44] just want to kind of highlight that uh

[1:21:46] of reporting before that I appreciate

[1:21:48] everyone speaking in the right Spirit um

[1:21:50] Captain Adventure Time we look forward

[1:21:52] to hearing what you want to say I do

[1:21:53] want to just pass the microphone on to a

[1:21:55] consummate motivating because he wanted

[1:21:57] to address on uh the gentleman's

[1:21:59] question about taxes

[1:22:02] thank you just on the taxes and then

[1:22:04] we'll hand it over back to the speaker

[1:22:06] over the last six years we have reduced

[1:22:09] taxes by over eight percent so I want to

[1:22:12] highlight that as one of the concerns

[1:22:14] talk about it it's not much but at least

[1:22:16] we are moving in the right direction to

[1:22:18] help absolutely uh we need to look at it

[1:22:22] as we move forward in the years to come

[1:22:27] I'm also there is no increase in the

[1:22:29] taxes going in 2023 just um some fees

[1:22:34] [Music]

[1:22:35] [Applause]

[1:22:43] my name is

[1:22:45] [Music]

[1:22:50] over 52 millimeter channels on YouTube

[1:22:54] right stabilization

[1:22:56] that Civilization is built into 1947 and

[1:23:01] 1974.

[1:23:03] it applies to communities that uh have

[1:23:06] advocacy rates at less than five percent

[1:23:09] and also apply Solutions assess overall

[1:23:12] apartments only 182 cities Across

[1:23:16] America have right civilization

[1:23:20] 32 states and options for visiting red

[1:23:24] stabilization

[1:23:26] Maryland Maryland California New York

[1:23:29] and New Jersey

[1:23:35] [Music]

[1:23:39] or not

[1:23:42] earlier this year in June at a city

[1:23:45] council committee being some comments

[1:23:47] were made by members of the city council

[1:23:50] one was that cast stability that leads

[1:23:52] to housing stability

[1:23:55] there are so many other expenses that

[1:23:57] housing providers have that tax

[1:24:00] taxability to taught me lean to houses

[1:24:03] stability

[1:24:04] another one mentioned that no one will

[1:24:07] send your eyes landlords to accept rent

[1:24:10] stabilization

[1:24:12] there is no business or entrepreneur

[1:24:14] anywhere understand it or any planet

[1:24:16] that will support any government

[1:24:18] initiative to suppress what they charge

[1:24:21] from the goods and services they provide

[1:24:23] and that result between market economy

[1:24:26] will do

[1:24:28] there's also stated that a hundred

[1:24:29] dollar written increase leads to nine

[1:24:32] percent in homelessness

[1:24:34] now why have not all the other providers

[1:24:37] are votes and services

[1:24:39] who's praising her body out for every

[1:24:41] American family had not been called on

[1:24:44] the trumpets as much as housing for

[1:24:46] violence one of them no discussions with

[1:24:50] them or initiatives to study what

[1:24:52] they're in charge or they provide to

[1:24:54] stay activities and other Americans rent

[1:24:58] controllers

[1:24:59] then it's how much will be charged for

[1:25:01] an apartment on Broadway and also much

[1:25:04] instructions and evictions

[1:25:06] outside of New York City the next

[1:25:09] intervention of community or Housing and

[1:25:12] Community Renewal will determine how

[1:25:14] much an area is around only one in three

[1:25:17] women who can do that one that they are

[1:25:19] strong in hardship to the Department of

[1:25:22] Housing or Community Law who won the

[1:25:25] owner saw as a major Capital Equipment

[1:25:27] to the building he or she now you can

[1:25:30] ask Matt's apartment for rent increase

[1:25:32] or seek by landlord receives a rented in

[1:25:36] consent from the tenant to increase the

[1:25:39] rent

[1:25:42] rental civilization will find many

[1:25:44] attendants not to roughness to his eye

[1:25:47] as with these and other laws the house

[1:25:49] of simple and turn the protection act of

[1:25:52] which whatevers are not allowed to check

[1:25:55] any adventures in public or private to

[1:25:57] see if that respect Lieutenant has been

[1:26:00] evicted we also mentioned the Iraq

[1:26:03] emergency rental assistance program

[1:26:05] which has no money but tenants can apply

[1:26:08] and you're closing application remains

[1:26:11] open the tenant cannot be invented

[1:26:14] and good cause conviction that is a shot

[1:26:17] down in Nassau and in the city of Albany

[1:26:19] it has been trying four times in the

[1:26:22] state of monogamous for shot down every

[1:26:24] time and Continental extension of

[1:26:27] housing providers Council providers up

[1:26:29] here very pragmatic in plants and tennis

[1:26:32] and has been as enhance become very

[1:26:34] tedious

[1:26:35] parsley and I like it we will

[1:26:38] undesirable or non-paying tense the

[1:26:41] internet increases in rent no more

[1:26:43] government tries to solve housing issues

[1:26:46] the more they create by smitten it

[1:26:49] harder and a good artists and Hardware

[1:26:51] returns to find a safe and affordable

[1:26:54] housing that many of you and others are

[1:26:57] seeking thank you

[1:27:00] [Applause]

[1:27:06] hi my name is Tom Kerry muscata United

[1:27:09] neighborhoods for a coalition of 13

[1:27:11] neighborhood associations across the

[1:27:13] city uh and uh first I want to encourage

[1:27:18] the city and the council to continue

[1:27:20] to code of proportion in this very

[1:27:23] important issue in all of our

[1:27:24] neighborhoods and we feel that more

[1:27:28] needs to be invested in that and we need

[1:27:30] more serious code enforcement

[1:27:34] program on part of the city but I came

[1:27:37] up here I wasn't going to speak I came

[1:27:39] to listen but it occurred to me that

[1:27:42] there is one solution and one one

[1:27:44] important component of this it hasn't

[1:27:46] come up so I thought I imagine it and

[1:27:48] that's energy costs which is driving a

[1:27:51] lot of of these issues is driving

[1:27:54] increases in landlord

[1:27:57] costs it and certainly makes housing

[1:28:00] less affordable for tenants and there

[1:28:03] are solutions available to the city to

[1:28:07] landlord to enter tenants I work for the

[1:28:10] division of Housing and Community

[1:28:11] Renewal for many many years we'll say

[1:28:14] and I during uh most of that time I was

[1:28:18] fortunate to direct the state's

[1:28:20] weatherization assistance program

[1:28:23] currently

[1:28:24] that great program it provides

[1:28:28] uh

[1:28:30] ins it provides interventions in housing

[1:28:33] that uh yeah simple things like

[1:28:35] insulation air sealing uh and other

[1:28:39] measures that can really dramatically

[1:28:41] reduce the cost of energy and you know

[1:28:46] make housing more affordable and uh it's

[1:28:49] a good investment on the part of

[1:28:50] landlords too the properties it's it's

[1:28:53] only available to lower income uh

[1:28:56] households but it's available to rent

[1:28:59] our own properties and homeownership

[1:29:01] owned properties it's administered in

[1:29:03] Schenectady by

[1:29:06] um

[1:29:07] yeah not by staff but by the Community

[1:29:09] Action Agency I'm sorry I don't recall

[1:29:11] their name right now there used to be

[1:29:12] Saratoga EOC they've changed their name

[1:29:14] but it's available the federal

[1:29:16] government uh has increased funding for

[1:29:19] it and I um would expect there there is

[1:29:22] a lot of funding available so there's

[1:29:26] also other uh energy related uh work

[1:29:30] that the the city uh should be

[1:29:32] encouraging and other opportunities and

[1:29:35] I just want to put that in the

[1:29:37] conversation uh it's very important of

[1:29:39] course it ties in with our climate

[1:29:40] change goals as well and uh I just

[1:29:43] thought that needed to be said Thank you very much

[1:29:47] [Applause]

[1:29:50] everything

[1:29:54] hi my name is

[1:29:57] a couple more minutes because the

[1:30:00] comments that I've heard

[1:30:02] um

[1:30:02] see we not

[1:30:05] we're not the social service the

[1:30:07] landlord we're not the social service

[1:30:08] department we're not obligated

[1:30:11] to listen to the 10 financial problems

[1:30:14] or his his income of six hundred dollars

[1:30:18] a month and try to work with them and have a stronger the homelessness let

[1:30:23] some government agency do that to you

[1:30:25] okay we go to court and then we deal

[1:30:28] with the social service representative

[1:30:30] there and Donna and she tells us that

[1:30:33] you're a landlord you know the social

[1:30:35] service department okay I appreciate it

[1:30:37] if you could adjust uh oh the piano

[1:30:39] please sir thank you

[1:30:42] okay thank you

[1:30:45] Edition housing is not our

[1:30:48] government responsibility so the

[1:30:50] government

[1:30:52] can we if if people are at the game that

[1:30:55] we become business owners and register

[1:30:58] as business owners

[1:31:00] nobody gets into business to lose money

[1:31:02] nobody wants to lose money if I'm losing

[1:31:05] money year after year I'm gonna either

[1:31:07] run out of business or actually

[1:31:09] volatility need that kind of business so

[1:31:12] the government should take more active

[1:31:15] roles shouldn't should you should you

[1:31:17] difficult and raise money to build more

[1:31:21] if there's there's shortage and

[1:31:22] Schenectady or housing unit you should

[1:31:24] build additional housing here okay you

[1:31:27] should alleviate the problem of you know

[1:31:29] demolition of all these housing unit

[1:31:32] that or houses the good houses that were

[1:31:34] demolished that reduce the number of

[1:31:36] houses you should work on Solutions of

[1:31:38] providing additional funds for people

[1:31:41] who don't have enough funds it's not the

[1:31:43] responsibility of the landlords in

[1:31:45] addition to the comment that you know

[1:31:46] councilman motor be are made about taxes

[1:31:49] you know taxes might not have been

[1:31:51] increased but there are hidden taxes

[1:31:53] just like Chromeo has mentioned a minute

[1:31:55] ago there are hidden tasks there are

[1:31:57] fees everywhere there's inspection fee

[1:32:00] there is three inspection fee there are

[1:32:02] fees for permit if if you have to

[1:32:04] replace the sheetrock there is a

[1:32:06] parameter the other roof there is a

[1:32:08] permanent fee there for uh for uh

[1:32:10] Plumbing there's a permit fee for

[1:32:12] electricity electricity

[1:32:14] there are administrative fee every time

[1:32:18] a cold officer goes to your house you

[1:32:20] charge you fifty dollars and if he goes

[1:32:22] against you another fifty dollars and

[1:32:25] then if he gives you a penalty it

[1:32:26] quadruples and even in the code it has

[1:32:29] five times the effect during the during

[1:32:31] the pandemic I went to court once

[1:32:34] because one tenant refused to pay the

[1:32:36] rent and then she waits to complaining

[1:32:38] to code and then when I went there with

[1:32:40] it when I find that was a hundred

[1:32:41] dollars multiplying every day when I

[1:32:44] wanted by the time I went to court the

[1:32:46] client was about five thousand dollars

[1:32:48] so these are all additional costs to

[1:32:50] landlords again because of the limited

[1:32:53] supply for permit in the city it's not

[1:32:55] really the landlord's issue you guys

[1:32:58] should work on increasing the number of

[1:33:00] random units and if the number of number

[1:33:02] of rental units increase in the city of

[1:33:05] course the rent is going to be

[1:33:06] stabilized the rent will be decreased

[1:33:08] it's not really the responsibility of

[1:33:10] the landlord that's all I wanted to say

[1:33:12] for now thank you

[1:33:14] foreign

[1:33:25] first of all I want to thank the folks

[1:33:29] who shared because it takes courage to

[1:33:30] share your story from your perspective

[1:33:34] um

[1:33:36] I think it's very important that we do

[1:33:40] remember that housing

[1:33:42] is a basic human need

[1:33:45] and relax the end

[1:33:48] of the conversation to some degree

[1:33:50] there is not one of us that would live

[1:33:55] if we didn't have somewhere to live and

[1:33:58] so yes it is a collective

[1:34:02] Community problem

[1:34:05] it is also a collective

[1:34:08] Community

[1:34:09] responsibility to find a solution

[1:34:13] and I think

[1:34:15] we can't ask

[1:34:17] the government

[1:34:19] to not expect right to be raised

[1:34:23] if we're saying you have to be the ones

[1:34:26] that solve it

[1:34:27] so if we're saying you have to solve it

[1:34:30] and then say but don't raise rent well

[1:34:33] we're we're a little bit backwards there

[1:34:37] I think it's important that we

[1:34:38] understand it is for us as a community

[1:34:42] to really think through what we need to

[1:34:45] do

[1:34:47] to ultimately come together

[1:34:50] hold ourselves and each other as a

[1:34:53] community accountable and we have some

[1:34:56] easy

[1:34:57] we have to be willing to put in the hard

[1:35:00] work be willing to take the time for

[1:35:02] each other be willing to come together

[1:35:06] as a community because not one of us can

[1:35:11] truly survive without another one of us

[1:35:15] at the end of the day you can say oh I

[1:35:18] can

[1:35:20] but then when something happens

[1:35:23] unexpected in your life and you're out

[1:35:25] there alone

[1:35:26] and you do need someone gosh I'm sure

[1:35:29] you'll hope that someone's there for you

[1:35:34] I encourage us to truly

[1:35:38] understand there is a housing crisis it

[1:35:43] is so real

[1:35:47] there are so many whether you're a young

[1:35:51] person starting out and you're just

[1:35:53] making minimum wage and can't afford

[1:35:56] rent

[1:35:58] for that reason but to Daniel's Point

[1:36:02] are making just enough to not qualify

[1:36:05] for any Supportive Services

[1:36:08] or

[1:36:09] you're experiencing a financial hardship

[1:36:13] or you have

[1:36:15] more than one child and you're trying to

[1:36:17] figure out how to pay for child care or

[1:36:21] you're on disability there are so many

[1:36:24] reasons why housing right now is a

[1:36:27] challenge

[1:36:28] I am not saying that there aren't also

[1:36:32] challenges for landlords feeling like

[1:36:35] they have

[1:36:37] tenants who are taking ownership of the

[1:36:39] home that they own

[1:36:42] there are also so many homes I walked

[1:36:45] into that my young people are paying

[1:36:48] ridiculous amounts of money for that are

[1:36:52] falling apart it is so real and it's not

[1:36:57] acceptable that we're accepting

[1:36:59] something with Gabriel

[1:37:02] problem

[1:37:12] one quick fun fact for someone else came

[1:37:15] up twice so I couldn't help myself

[1:37:17] despite the importance of rental

[1:37:19] assistance more federal dollars go to

[1:37:22] home ownership subsidiaries like the

[1:37:24] mortgage interest rate instead of

[1:37:26] families that struggle the most to

[1:37:28] afford housing so the federal government

[1:37:30] does a lot for money that goes to home

[1:37:32] ownership while 23.4 million low-income

[1:37:36] American renters pay more than half

[1:37:39] their income for housing and most don't

[1:37:41] receive rental assistance due to funding

[1:37:43] limitations there is not a lack of

[1:37:47] precedent for helping individuals have

[1:37:50] holes because homes and land were given

[1:37:53] away by the federal government to

[1:37:56] individuals very specific individuals

[1:37:59] while denying the formally enslaved

[1:38:01] African to any land whatsoever and

[1:38:04] telling them to put them also possible

[1:38:06] stress but giving acres and land and

[1:38:09] property to those white individuals so

[1:38:12] yes there is precedent for giving to

[1:38:15] those that are in need including the

[1:38:16] fact that the federal government still

[1:38:18] right now gives countless rebates and

[1:38:21] incentives to homeowners that we do not

[1:38:24] also see for our low-income families

[1:38:26] that are struggling every single day

[1:38:28] thank you

[1:38:30] [Applause]

[1:38:36] who hasn't had the opportunity to speak

[1:38:39] thus far

[1:38:40] um so we want to do that and I also want

[1:38:41] to make sure you know there were some um

[1:38:44] famous the city council members around

[1:38:46] you know but is in our wheelhouse and I

[1:38:48] think that I I do speak for

[1:38:51] um for all the medical city council that

[1:38:54] we are community members as well so even

[1:38:56] when there is a solution that might not

[1:38:59] be within our warehouse really in our

[1:39:01] authority to change

[1:39:02] um we still feel the obligation to

[1:39:04] Advocate and talk to the people who are

[1:39:06] in those decision making scenes and

[1:39:09] represent your voice as well so I think

[1:39:11] that that's that's important that we

[1:39:12] recognize that this that there's this is

[1:39:14] a room of solutions and and not really

[1:39:16] problems please

[1:39:20] foreign

[1:39:31] two family home in Schenectady for over

[1:39:34] 40 years

[1:39:37] um I won't

[1:39:40] I am so upset about everything that's

[1:39:43] happened the last couple years in so

[1:39:45] many ways at one point with one two

[1:39:49] family home I was old over twenty four

[1:39:51] thousand dollars in rent I'm still owed

[1:39:55] over five thousand dollars in rent I

[1:39:58] forgave over twelve thousand dollars in

[1:40:02] rent over the past so many years this

[1:40:06] and and my heart goes out to people my

[1:40:10] heart is going out into this woman who

[1:40:12] has one child but what what

[1:40:16] um I don't I don't know what he's doing

[1:40:19] anymore I don't know what to do okay I

[1:40:23] mean I've talked with lawyers I've

[1:40:24] worked with

[1:40:26] um one incident the the lieutenant

[1:40:29] downstairs would not let me in the house

[1:40:31] to replace a broken window because she

[1:40:34] owed so much rent that she was afraid I

[1:40:37] was going to lock her house I called the

[1:40:41] county and they said I could I couldn't

[1:40:43] go in and call the city and they said I

[1:40:45] could go in or vice versa and and

[1:40:48] finally I wound up giving her newspaper

[1:40:50] and tape because she would not let me in

[1:40:54] to replace a broken window when it was

[1:40:56] winter

[1:40:58] um I don't have Solutions but I will say

[1:41:01] a big part of this is also due to

[1:41:05] construction costs and

[1:41:08] um for the person that is keeping up

[1:41:11] with their home was forty five hundred

[1:41:14] dollars this year for me to replace the

[1:41:16] sewer line I had to spend six thousand

[1:41:20] dollars for for dampness and mold

[1:41:23] remediation in the Attic in the basement

[1:41:25] there's an issue with my chimney there's

[1:41:30] windows that need to be replaced in the

[1:41:33] home that are 40 years old I've been

[1:41:35] gradually China's place two or three at

[1:41:38] a time

[1:41:39] but there's

[1:41:42] you know there's a basic cost and even

[1:41:46] if there is not a mortgage involved

[1:41:49] there's basic costs my another landlord

[1:41:53] I don't just

[1:41:55] 26 000 to paint for lead remediation

[1:42:00] it's something that I could have done

[1:42:03] myself for nothing but because it's

[1:42:07] leather mediation and and we weren't

[1:42:11] sure if we were doing it right that um

[1:42:14] twenty six thousand dollars she could

[1:42:17] have had her old house painted she could

[1:42:19] have had all the woodwork and the trim

[1:42:21] worked out of the apartment and put new

[1:42:23] trim up for that price so I think that

[1:42:29] um

[1:42:30] repairs are major things I also replace

[1:42:34] the

[1:42:35] a furnace and a hot water tank in the

[1:42:38] last couple years and and it's like I

[1:42:41] had to get loans I had to borrow money

[1:42:43] to do that to take care of my one rental

[1:42:47] property trying to help these women that

[1:42:51] are in dire need

[1:42:53] but can't do it anymore I can't do it

[1:42:57] anymore

[1:42:58] especially when they're not cooperating

[1:43:02] um there was

[1:43:03] um a program working

[1:43:06] throughout the country where certain

[1:43:09] cities were mandating

[1:43:11] [Music]

[1:43:12] contractors for every 10 homes that they

[1:43:16] built that there would be one home for

[1:43:19] low income

[1:43:21] for every 10 Apartments there would be

[1:43:23] one apartment designated for low income

[1:43:26] and there were some glitches with that

[1:43:29] program but I think it showed some

[1:43:32] success and I don't think that would be

[1:43:34] a bad thing for the inner city it can't

[1:43:37] be used in the suburbs because of

[1:43:40] Transportation

[1:43:41] but that's that might be something to

[1:43:44] look into too and we need the county

[1:43:46] involved because it's

[1:43:50] County Social Service Department that's

[1:43:53] helping so I don't know where they are

[1:43:55] today but

[1:43:57] you can't do this without the county

[1:43:59] that's my two cents in Russian County

[1:44:02] representation thank you

[1:44:05] [Applause]

[1:44:12] for our youngest Seeker could we please

[1:44:15] give her a little round of applause

[1:44:16] [Music]

[1:44:17] [Applause]

[1:44:20] thank you

[1:44:23] hi my name is Samantha and I just want

[1:44:28] to say a few things

[1:44:31] um but I want to say is that when I go

[1:44:37] private

[1:44:39] and under the car I see a lot of people

[1:44:44] that are walking along with sides and

[1:44:50] yeah

[1:44:51] they don't have a house to live in

[1:44:55] [Music]

[1:45:06] [Applause]

[1:45:19] right good evening city council my name

[1:45:23] is John Howard I'm a lifelong resident

[1:45:24] of Schenectady I'm also a homeowner and

[1:45:26] a landlord

[1:45:28] um my grandparents a library has just

[1:45:30] connected me in the 60s based on a lot

[1:45:33] of things a lot of things did to work

[1:45:35] for GE

[1:45:36] so what we know is that a city generates

[1:45:38] its revenues from its tax base so when

[1:45:42] GE took a lot of these jobs out a lot of

[1:45:44] the owner occupy housing

[1:45:46] so now we're in a situation where we

[1:45:48] don't have that employer we don't have

[1:45:50] those wages we can't Levy any more taxes

[1:45:53] on the existing residents that own

[1:45:56] properties what can we do over the wakes

[1:45:58] of greens and employer that's going to

[1:46:00] employ a lot more people that way

[1:46:03] including a bigger tax base maybe that's

[1:46:06] part of a solution

[1:46:07] thank you

[1:46:11] [Applause]

[1:46:19] all right that's why I was one last

[1:46:23] thing

[1:46:23] um I think that is important for our

[1:46:26] sitting home properties that there's a

[1:46:27] focus on residents that we're not

[1:46:29] selling a bunch of our city-owned

[1:46:31] Apartments people that don't live here I

[1:46:32] think that only exacerate the problem I

[1:46:34] think giving opportunities for

[1:46:36] first-time homeowners and folks that

[1:46:38] live in our city is important because

[1:46:40] like change some of that damages

[1:46:46] foreign

[1:46:52] [Music]

[1:47:06] because I couldn't just asked a question

[1:47:07] while sitting there my

[1:47:10] to be honest it's just a little

[1:47:12] discovered he was sitting here because

[1:47:14] I've been working in the field doing

[1:47:15] community service work

[1:47:17] um mainly case management emergency

[1:47:19] assistance and it's really tiring to

[1:47:22] keep answering phones talking to people

[1:47:24] working with people from different ages

[1:47:26] all different places different

[1:47:27] situations working class

[1:47:30] um before covert during covert after

[1:47:32] Kobe and it's just I'm sitting here and

[1:47:35] I'm thinking what's the point

[1:47:37] like what is the what is actually going

[1:47:39] to happen after everyone stands up and

[1:47:42] it's like this is my issue we hear the

[1:47:44] landlord's side you hear the landlord's

[1:47:46] side that really just they're trying to

[1:47:47] make a living so I'm trying to come up

[1:47:49] in life some just have a good heart and

[1:47:51] we want to not see people live out in

[1:47:53] the street so you have different types

[1:47:54] that are being represented on both sides

[1:47:56] but then where do we go from here

[1:47:58] because

[1:48:00] I have a new job now which I guess I've

[1:48:02] made everything should I mentioned I

[1:48:04] don't know

[1:48:06] I have a new job now as a Crisis

[1:48:09] Prevention and intervention coordinator

[1:48:12] and the thing that I that some people in

[1:48:15] our field are holding our breath forward

[1:48:17] is the moment where no one has no

[1:48:19] anywhere to go and like Rebecca said

[1:48:23] it's me

[1:48:24] and I'm sorry to everyone that is a

[1:48:26] landlord because I I want to be a

[1:48:28] landlord but let me tell you the heart

[1:48:30] that I had and I hope that God grant me

[1:48:32] this witch because I got tired of seeing

[1:48:34] people charged so much for rent in areas

[1:48:37] that can't afford it when I was younger

[1:48:40] and I saw these buildings come up across

[1:48:43] the street from the projects that I grew

[1:48:44] up in my mother told me they have to

[1:48:46] have a percentage of people that can

[1:48:48] live there that represent the community

[1:48:50] that have the money that's actually of

[1:48:54] representing the people that live there

[1:48:55] no matter what they charge there's a

[1:48:57] percentage that that building has to go

[1:48:59] to the people in the community

[1:49:01] it sounds like that may not be a thing

[1:49:03] here based off of something that a

[1:49:04] person would say I thought that was just

[1:49:06] basic protocol so that would be a good

[1:49:08] idea but at the end of the day here's

[1:49:10] the problem

[1:49:11] what are we going to do when we have all

[1:49:13] these people in the street the next

[1:49:15] thing is going to be I don't want all

[1:49:16] these homeless people sitting in front

[1:49:18] of my building bringing down a value of

[1:49:20] my property then it's going to be my

[1:49:22] problem if I'm a landlord because now

[1:49:23] you've got my property looking a hot

[1:49:25] mess and I'll be back at the law

[1:49:26] enforcement trying to find somewhere for

[1:49:27] them already full so what are we going

[1:49:30] to do

[1:49:31] I don't know about anyone else but I

[1:49:34] have I have a I have a heart and

[1:49:37] understanding that it has to be

[1:49:39] something that I have to do my father

[1:49:40] commands it I have a certain

[1:49:43] mandate on my life to understand that I

[1:49:45] can't just sit here and watch it happen

[1:49:47] and I have no idea what to do

[1:49:49] but there's seven people sitting in this

[1:49:51] room with way more power than I have

[1:49:53] that I'm aware of at this time of my

[1:49:55] life but you literally have the power of

[1:49:57] what you're gonna do about it because

[1:49:59] like she said when that time comes when

[1:50:01] it's your family your family your family

[1:50:03] because it will come when the class

[1:50:04] system starts changing and middle class

[1:50:06] start looking like poor and the rich

[1:50:08] start looking like middle class then we

[1:50:10] all gotta understand real quick but what

[1:50:12] can we do before we get to that point is

[1:50:14] what I'm trying to understand because in

[1:50:16] my time right now I don't see the answer

[1:50:18] I see everyone trying to figure it out

[1:50:20] so people have compassion it seems like

[1:50:22] and some people are just trying to

[1:50:24] survive and I can't blame you for it but

[1:50:26] I can't see right back on somebody

[1:50:28] else's neck to survive

[1:50:31] we already got slapped in the face with

[1:50:33] hoping

[1:50:35] you think that's it

[1:50:37] open the book and we'll see that there's

[1:50:38] more to come and I don't mean to make

[1:50:40] this a religious thing but I stand on my

[1:50:42] beliefs open this book and you will see

[1:50:44] that there is more to come open the book

[1:50:46] and we see that there's more to come

[1:50:50] [Applause]

[1:50:57] my name is

[1:51:02] Schenectady

[1:51:04] I wasn't going to say something but it

[1:51:06] seems

[1:51:08] crazy guy we're sitting here talking

[1:51:09] about homelessness

[1:51:11] has numerous numerous abandoned

[1:51:15] buildings

[1:51:16] me personally I don't buy unless they

[1:51:18] fall over there and I got a lot of

[1:51:20] properties on Hamilton Hill

[1:51:22] and

[1:51:23] I totally rehab I mean I don't mind if

[1:51:27] you're not falling down so with the city

[1:51:30] had a missing collection property

[1:51:33] and we're talking about rain control the

[1:51:35] city gets back to getting these houses

[1:51:36] away cheap yeah you may put the 60 to 70

[1:51:40] 000 hours into the house and I only had

[1:51:42] three ninety thousand into the house

[1:51:46] it's easier to go that way to put the

[1:51:49] right control not rent control but I

[1:51:52] think differential with certain things

[1:51:55] but again I don't mind unless they form

[1:51:58] a damage that means everything's going

[1:52:00] in this house everything's energy

[1:52:02] efficient everything

[1:52:05] put permits basically and if you have a

[1:52:09] track record you should be somebody that

[1:52:12] they should cater to in all my

[1:52:14] properties you know what I'm from but I

[1:52:16] can't believe jumped over roofs I'm an

[1:52:20] investor in the community but it's no

[1:52:22] help for me

[1:52:23] and I honestly the Republic I have one

[1:52:25] problem I had I had eight rings I had

[1:52:28] one problem

[1:52:29] and I don't have I don't have the

[1:52:31] problems most people have because I have

[1:52:33] some weird name on the rent I had

[1:52:35] somewhere that didn't want to live it

[1:52:37] might not be on the best spot right now

[1:52:39] but it might be the best house or next

[1:52:42] to one of the best houses and people are

[1:52:44] taking pride in the things that I'm

[1:52:45] looking

[1:52:48] [Applause]

[1:52:55] one of the

[1:52:57] SE other city council members for your

[1:52:59] opportunities

[1:53:07] good evening ladies and gentlemen on

[1:53:09] Earth council members my name is

[1:53:13] I'm an attorney in Schenectady I'm not a

[1:53:16] fancy lawyer and I'm a small guy here in

[1:53:18] town trying to survive and I'm also

[1:53:20] workers

[1:53:21] University and you can probably hear my

[1:53:25] foreign accentuation from Romania and I

[1:53:27] came here and started 20 years ago just

[1:53:29] because

[1:53:30] uh I try to escape from a communism of

[1:53:35] concentration camp

[1:53:37] and I'm serious when I'm saying this

[1:53:40] because there in a company era

[1:53:43] everything was controlled by the state

[1:53:45] what to say what you do what you can buy

[1:53:48] and what you can do with your own thing

[1:53:50] so I have to say that when I came here I

[1:53:54] came with high goals and aspirations and

[1:53:57] I see that more and more of these

[1:54:00] countries going to to take an approach

[1:54:03] the communism approach

[1:54:05] towards all these things where uh

[1:54:08] staying is more and more involved in

[1:54:10] people's life and trying to control

[1:54:11] their lives so this length civilization

[1:54:14] is a form of controlling our life

[1:54:17] because they can impose uh uh uh on on a

[1:54:22] landlords uh uh what to do with their

[1:54:25] own properties it's like they have your

[1:54:27] own car and the state is giving you

[1:54:29] portion of your yes and then but it's

[1:54:32] telling you no you cannot take the

[1:54:33] shortest route you have to take this

[1:54:34] route because that's why we came for

[1:54:36] obviously and that's another way that

[1:54:39] could work you know in an open-free

[1:54:41] Society the the offer and the demand

[1:54:45] should meet the some elements and that's

[1:54:48] why it here is honored

[1:54:52] Town board would attract some funds and

[1:54:57] build a more football housing which create a competition for the small

[1:55:03] landlords that will create a free market

[1:55:06] a free offer and demand it's the demand

[1:55:10] for housing okay a city builds their own

[1:55:13] housing cheap housing okay we offer to

[1:55:17] this 104 to live in any other place I

[1:55:21] can tell you I came here United States

[1:55:23] with two thousand dollars in two

[1:55:24] suitcases and I did not take any and I

[1:55:27] did not receive any kind of support from

[1:55:29] any kind of governmental agency and I

[1:55:32] take pride in that because I work hard

[1:55:34] to put time jobs and when the law school

[1:55:38] and after that I took uh of course my

[1:55:41] pay rent I paid rent and after that I

[1:55:44] took an FHA loan and I purchased my own

[1:55:47] house then I work continue to working

[1:55:50] struggling again I was not a rich guy

[1:55:52] and this is how I bought my house so

[1:55:56] I believe that the state should

[1:55:59] encourage people to take pride in their

[1:56:01] only work and get a loan to take

[1:56:04] responsibilities like ownership if they

[1:56:06] choose so if not they have the

[1:56:08] alternative option to live in a housing

[1:56:12] provided by the state and and like I

[1:56:16] said I I think most of both sides of the

[1:56:19] eye I work for landlords I work right

[1:56:22] now from England but before I work for

[1:56:24] tenants so I know that uh to to be a

[1:56:28] kind of balance the state should not

[1:56:31] intervene in the middle and I have to

[1:56:33] say that after 2019 when the state could

[1:56:36] have time on the scale in favor of the

[1:56:38] tenants and made all these uh eviction

[1:56:42] process marketing for customers the

[1:56:45] landlords had to do something and had to cover for the costs and that's why we

[1:56:52] have here is unbalanced because again

[1:56:54] politicians needled in this kind of

[1:56:58] businesses and creating this

[1:57:01] inequity I can say so uh like I said

[1:57:06] it's it's not good what is happening and

[1:57:09] uh I hope that uh the the house this

[1:57:15] Council main board will not go forward

[1:57:20] this intent to do the and stabilization

[1:57:23] and thank you so much for your time

[1:57:29] thank you

[1:57:38] without saying

[1:57:42] one of the things

[1:57:47] council members to address anything that

[1:57:50] they like to do so and then we'll be

[1:57:51] wrapping up thank you don't forget to

[1:57:53] sign in on your way out okay my name is

[1:57:56] Janice one of the things that we have to

[1:57:58] be clear is that when you talk about

[1:58:01] inequities

[1:58:03] black and brown popes to this country in

[1:58:06] Schenectady and everywhere we have been

[1:58:10] at the bottom okay now you see that we

[1:58:14] have a council that's very diverse for

[1:58:15] the first time in the history of

[1:58:16] Schenectady

[1:58:18] give us a hand give them ahead

[1:58:21] [Applause]

[1:58:23] we want them Representatives

[1:58:25] it's time that you know these kind of

[1:58:27] policies and these issues they're

[1:58:30] drastically affecting people that look

[1:58:32] like me

[1:58:33] so I might be one that happened to have

[1:58:36] a few properties maybe there's a few of

[1:58:37] us but the masses of us are being

[1:58:40] affected by this inequities that is

[1:58:43] talked about we all don't get the same

[1:58:46] privileges people

[1:58:47] the Privileges that come to this side

[1:58:49] don't look like the same prisoners on

[1:58:51] this side so we got to recognize that

[1:58:53] and we got to talk about equity

[1:58:56] and understanding that we all have the

[1:58:59] right to fair and equal and affordable

[1:59:02] housing and decent housing not just

[1:59:05] those that look like this for all of us

[1:59:07] because we're one people and so that's

[1:59:09] what I want you all to understand

[1:59:10] because as we look at all of these

[1:59:12] policies and our lawmakers are going to

[1:59:15] hopefully enact some policy you got to

[1:59:18] understand that there's a group of

[1:59:19] people that are most effective and those

[1:59:23] people are people that look like me

[1:59:25] so thank you and let's keep that at the

[1:59:28] Forefront because that's real and it

[1:59:30] hasn't changed in America yet so it

[1:59:33] ended up you know all of us got to be on

[1:59:35] that page thank you thank you

[1:59:38] [Applause]

[1:59:39] um

[1:59:51] thank you

[1:59:54] so I know that this is the first step

[1:59:56] and this is a beautiful site as it's

[1:59:58] been identified a lot throughout this

[2:00:00] evening this

[2:00:02] present that's in his room is very very

[2:00:04] diverse and well representable with the

[2:00:07] city is Matthew looks like there are

[2:00:09] multiple different aspects of how this

[2:00:11] conversation of housing affects each and

[2:00:13] every one of us where you currently sit

[2:00:15] and our experiences are backed so the

[2:00:18] one thing that we've heard throughout

[2:00:19] these dialogues is this a complicated

[2:00:21] conversation that cannot be

[2:00:25] totally born by us at the city council

[2:00:27] and that's why it's important to hear

[2:00:29] your feedback to hear your input so I

[2:00:32] know there was a young woman spoke and

[2:00:34] said what next so what next is that our

[2:00:37] next 21 on the 5th of December the one

[2:00:41] on the 19th it is your responsibilities

[2:00:44] remain engaged and keep us focused on

[2:00:48] making sure this is not a one-off

[2:00:49] conversation because that does not

[2:00:51] affect anyone

[2:00:52] what it does not mean to any long-term

[2:00:54] change in the community and I can

[2:00:56] promise you we are not setting deal with

[2:00:58] the intent of just paying web service as

[2:01:00] councilman early so frequently says so

[2:01:02] I'm excited to be the first one because

[2:01:03] I want to make sure we take an

[2:01:04] opportunity to highlight where we are

[2:01:06] I'm going to put the spotlight on a

[2:01:09] shame Barbie I know he has an elevator

[2:01:11] pitch but this is a beautiful resource

[2:01:13] that we have in the city of Schenectady

[2:01:15] this Boys and Girls Club is a

[2:01:18] magnanimous facility that provides so

[2:01:21] many resources to a lot of different uh families and is still

[2:01:27] providing resources tonight but your

[2:01:28] serving dinners are walking in so I

[2:01:30] don't know if you would like to take the

[2:01:31] opportunity I don't know how many people

[2:01:32] are aware of how these resource

[2:01:35] functions and

[2:01:36] some areas that we don't always

[2:01:38] recognize but

[2:01:42] just welcome

[2:01:46] site open

[2:01:48] in anywhere 2020 but this is the only

[2:01:51] thing we have sites all over we have one

[2:01:53] Six Flags That Way Mount Pleasant an old

[2:01:55] church Hall

[2:01:56] we're in public housing we

[2:01:58] 've got site in Rotterdam we're going to be very soon we're

[2:02:03] already in six schools we're gonna need

[2:02:04] 10 in the next month or so so we're all

[2:02:08] over the place if you have

[2:02:09] families that are in need of some

[2:02:11] services

[2:02:12] after school services in particular

[2:02:16] let me see this but yeah this is a 40

[2:02:18] 000 square footage

[2:02:20] 10 million dollar facility um

[2:02:22] we are and what prevention several times

[2:02:26] like the city of Schenectady

[2:02:29] made it very easy for us to take a

[2:02:32] Park where the trees were falling down

[2:02:33] things

[2:02:36] allowed us to drop this in where we have

[2:02:38] hundreds of kids here every day

[2:02:41] theater

[2:02:43] here as soon as we all get up and leave

[2:02:45] I have to tear it down and put up

[2:02:47] another configuration for another group

[2:02:49] that's coming in here tomorrow morning

[2:02:50] at 8am Tuesday we are always letting

[2:02:53] outside groups use the facility um

[2:02:56] this is a special occasion we try not to

[2:02:59] mingle adults with the kids in the

[2:03:01] building it's one of those weird things

[2:03:02] that we try to avoid but welcome and

[2:03:06] if you think just let me know thank you

[2:03:18] what do you think of it I'd like to

[2:03:20] thank you all for coming I mean I think

[2:03:22] it's very important you know a lot of

[2:03:24] times when when I was campaigning people

[2:03:26] would say you know I only see

[2:03:28] politicians when they're out campaigning

[2:03:30] well it's difficult to get to everyone

[2:03:32] in the city all the time so it's

[2:03:34] wonderful for you to all come out and

[2:03:36] tell us how you feel I'm really

[2:03:38] appreciative of that and I just want to

[2:03:41] say you know landlord's pennant I was a

[2:03:43] tenant I'm a landlord I'm a homeowner we

[2:03:46] always struggle those we really do and

[2:03:48] there's a lot of great landlords out

[2:03:50] there and there's a lot of great tenants

[2:03:52] and what we heard here tonight I I don't

[2:03:55] know if it's going to

[2:03:58] how things are going to play out from

[2:04:00] here what is council's person Williams

[2:04:02] said it's your responsibility to keep it

[2:04:05] in the Forefront of each and every one

[2:04:06] of us reach out to each of us via email

[2:04:09] our telephones and come to Council

[2:04:11] meetings and see what we're doing so

[2:04:14] again I'd like to just thank you all for

[2:04:16] being here

[2:04:18] [Applause]

[2:04:21] so thank you for all all of you for

[2:04:24] coming out as we've seen here tonight as

[2:04:28] what we already know and this is a

[2:04:30] complex issue

[2:04:31] it's very difficult

[2:04:33] it ranges from faulty economic policies

[2:04:36] at the federal level to different

[2:04:39] policies at the state and local level it

[2:04:42] gets down to things like how do we as a

[2:04:45] New York state to support for people who

[2:04:48] need it so for example we rehashing our

[2:04:52] entire benefit system of what we want

[2:04:56] people to have thirty thousand dollars

[2:04:58] they're working they're doing what they

[2:05:00] need to do and they're only making 20.

[2:05:03] we'll give them ten thousand to get up

[2:05:05] to that thirty thousand that's something

[2:05:08] that could be done at the state level

[2:05:09] rather than what we already have as a

[2:05:13] benefits policy so that's things at the

[2:05:16] state level need to be done on a local

[2:05:17] level the reality is while it sounds

[2:05:20] nice rent stabilizations not going to

[2:05:23] solve the problem

[2:05:25] but there are things that we can do for

[2:05:28] example mixed income

[2:05:30] of development

[2:05:32] where

[2:05:33] we have a hundred units making up

[2:05:35] numbers being developed

[2:05:37] and we required 10 20 to be a certain

[2:05:41] income class and the others

[2:05:45] broken down so forth those are real

[2:05:47] policies we can do that can impact

[2:05:50] change

[2:05:51] having licensed landlords will not only

[2:05:55] require landlords to be in the system

[2:05:58] and have

[2:06:00] proper property that renters can be

[2:06:05] assured that they're getting a good

[2:06:08] quality apartment

[2:06:10] that holds the feet to the fire

[2:06:14] educating

[2:06:16] renters as to what are their rights is

[2:06:20] important making sure that you have a

[2:06:23] contract making sure that your landlord

[2:06:26] is either licensed if we get to that

[2:06:29] point or has a rental contract so you're

[2:06:31] not getting taken advantage of is

[2:06:34] something that's really important

[2:06:36] so how do we encourage that education to

[2:06:39] come to me and there's things we could

[2:06:42] probably do through the development

[2:06:44] office of educating renters so that they

[2:06:47] know their rights and they

[2:06:49] get advantage of

[2:06:51] so while it sounds nice and it

[2:06:54] the reality is rent stabilizations

[2:06:57] probably not going to work

[2:06:59] but there are other things because such

[2:07:02] a complex issue that we can try to

[2:07:05] affect change

[2:07:07] and you guys need to put pressure

[2:07:11] on your state representatives as well as

[2:07:13] your federal Representatives where the

[2:07:15] real money and real power is to really

[2:07:18] have a major impact on housing issues

[2:07:22] and that's where we can impact change

[2:07:24] together

[2:07:26] so while it might not be the most

[2:07:28] popular thing to say that

[2:07:32] there's other avenues we can take to try

[2:07:34] to change the supply demand dynamically

[2:07:39] in order to get to where we need to as a

[2:07:43] community

[2:07:44] and hold your representatives

[2:07:46] accountable for the economic policy

[2:07:48] inflation at nine percent certain stuff

[2:07:52] 15 20 the cost for all of us is over

[2:07:55] seven thousand dollars over one year ago

[2:07:59] that impacts all of us and that impacts

[2:08:02] our housing ability

[2:08:04] so it's a very complex issue and to try

[2:08:08] to boil it down to a single thing

[2:08:10] um you know it sounds nice but there's

[2:08:13] things we can do that can really impact

[2:08:16] change so please keep coming forward you

[2:08:19] guys probably have a bunch of ideas

[2:08:20] bring them to us you know the council

[2:08:24] meetings have been well attended over

[2:08:25] the past months so

[2:08:28] look forward to seeing you soon thank

[2:08:30] you

[2:08:31] [Applause]

[2:08:36] [Music]

[2:08:38] so again I also want to thank everyone

[2:08:40] for coming out tonight

[2:08:42] um you know I think it was a great input

[2:08:44] and I just appreciate um the whole kind

[2:08:47] of like atmosphere in the world I really do I want to answer I want to

[2:08:51] just note a couple things because there

[2:08:52] was a question to ask so if I have a

[2:08:54] dancer I want to be able to give that

[2:08:55] tonight someone wanted to know how many

[2:08:57] Code Enforcement Officers we have So

[2:08:59] currently there are nine code

[2:09:00] enforcement officers and one supervisor

[2:09:02] that's currently billed there are three

[2:09:04] vacant positions so that means job

[2:09:06] opportunity if you know anybody that's

[2:09:08] looking for it and uh for a job

[2:09:13] um and also I think it was already

[2:09:14] mentioned but there is a program that's

[2:09:16] going to be called Home Ownership made

[2:09:18] easy because we know that home ownership

[2:09:20] stabilizes neighborhoods it also has

[2:09:22] impact on time so you know um people

[2:09:25] have an opportunity to become homeowners

[2:09:27] and DC um vcni does have a down payment

[2:09:32] program for people who want to become

[2:09:33] homeowners so that program does exist

[2:09:35] out there up to ten thousand dollars if

[2:09:38] you want if you're a first time with a

[2:09:39] buyer and it doesn't mean 100 first time

[2:09:41] in your whole life there's some other

[2:09:43] things that made you you know meet you

[2:09:44] as the first time on my interview if you

[2:09:46] own property prior to that I just want

[2:09:49] to make sure that I um answerable

[2:09:52] questions

[2:09:54] okay I think so so

[2:09:56] um I will say that how you see it

[2:09:58] depends on where you sit and clearly uh

[2:10:00] we sit in various places in this room

[2:10:02] however there is one thing I think that

[2:10:04] everybody will agree on tonight

[2:10:06] that something needs to be done first

[2:10:08] and foremost and

[2:10:10] um that there's good event on both sides

[2:10:13] so

[2:10:14] I mean I think that was without a

[2:10:15] question when we came to the room but

[2:10:17] you know to hear the acknowledgment to

[2:10:19] hear I think it was important for

[2:10:20] tenants to hear from landlords and

[2:10:22] landlords to hear from tenants firsthand

[2:10:24] and not through the um so somewhat of

[2:10:27] Social Service of person talking to the

[2:10:30] landlord or vice versa but to hear

[2:10:31] firsthand some of the things that people

[2:10:32] are struggling with

[2:10:34] um I just want to kind of highlight some

[2:10:36] of the things and let you know that we

[2:10:38] are taking notes I will watch this again

[2:10:39] from in its entirety and but but taking

[2:10:43] notes tonight and uh some really good

[2:10:44] ideas uh came out of it

[2:10:47] uh intended for landlords that people on

[2:10:51] disability of just hitting the key

[2:10:53] points keep individuals with

[2:10:55] disabilities are limited income should

[2:10:56] be considered and also make sure that

[2:10:58] they have the information of where they

[2:11:01] can get assistance that the number of

[2:11:03] units should kind of equal out to the

[2:11:05] number of people who um who are seeking

[2:11:07] you know the law of supply and demand

[2:11:09] and I also one other fact I forgot to

[2:11:11] say e-rep does have funding I have made

[2:11:14] that clear today to make that phone call

[2:11:15] today not yesterday but today and they

[2:11:18] said yes they do there is funding so I

[2:11:19] just want to be clear about that I don't

[2:11:21] know how long it's going to last but as

[2:11:22] of today they did have funding so I

[2:11:24] don't want people to walk away with the

[2:11:26] idea um otherwise and and all of you can

[2:11:28] call your elves

[2:11:31] it's all numbered as landlord stands as

[2:11:33] tenants if you choose to hear more about

[2:11:36] what's going on and even if you have an

[2:11:38] application in and that's

[2:11:42] 1-800-342-3009 and as always you have to

[2:11:44] follow the prompts

[2:11:46] we all love those

[2:11:49] um let's see

[2:11:53] oh if we do well you can if you're a

[2:11:54] landlord I think you already know that

[2:11:56] the city does have a landlord

[2:11:57] registration

[2:11:59] um

[2:12:00] propane and a lot of us said about

[2:12:03] affordable housing and making sure or

[2:12:05] health events built and making sure

[2:12:06] there's a more affordable unit which I

[2:12:08] 100 agree with one thing I do want to

[2:12:11] note because it has happened in other

[2:12:12] places that there's not a door called

[2:12:13] the poor door

[2:12:16] a door called the four-door which means

[2:12:19] that if you pay Market rent you get to

[2:12:21] come in that door and if you pay

[2:12:24] um if you're paying um if your rent is

[2:12:26] uh subsidized you get to go in that door

[2:12:28] it's a real thing so we should have it

[2:12:31] but let's make sure we don't go down

[2:12:32] that level

[2:12:37] um

[2:12:39] we didn't know that you said that with

[2:12:41] more code enforcement employees need to

[2:12:43] be in both parts and employees

[2:12:53] okay so uh I heard like oh the other

[2:12:58] thing I think that comes out of this is

[2:12:59] that there are people spoke who came

[2:13:02] from different agencies that could work

[2:13:04] with landlords so I understand that

[2:13:07] slick is only starting with landlords

[2:13:09] and not tenants right now but let me

[2:13:11] suggest that at least those

[2:13:13] organizations or individuals you've

[2:13:15] heard of someone speak from Sunday who

[2:13:17] has a lot of novels clearly so maybe

[2:13:19] those folks who can kind of bring that

[2:13:20] information to that group as you work

[2:13:23] through your process of life

[2:13:27] training

[2:13:31] there will be both but it's

[2:13:34] elevated

[2:13:38] no I'm saying bringing people who can

[2:13:40] help you through your process not the

[2:13:41] tenants at this time that's what I

[2:13:42] wasn't want to be clear about like the

[2:13:44] gentleman that spoke he had a lot of

[2:13:46] information about

[2:13:47] um you know the whole processes and ways

[2:13:50] that energy cloth could play into that

[2:13:51] and all of that so uh we're gonna we're

[2:13:54] gonna put the notes together

[2:13:55] and you uh we're going to email them out

[2:13:58] or they'll post it on our website

[2:13:59] probably better post on our website in

[2:14:01] case you don't have our email address

[2:14:04] uh so I just I don't want to take many

[2:14:06] more time we're already past 10 of 30s

[2:14:08] but I do want you to know that we are listening we are taking

[2:14:10] consideration everything that you've

[2:14:12] said and you know it isn't it is the

[2:14:14] first place the first starting place and

[2:14:16] when it's necessary starting place

[2:14:17] because

[2:14:19] there is a problem landlords have said

[2:14:21] there is a problem tentative that

[2:14:23] they're a big problem so recognizing

[2:14:25] that because there's a problem I know

[2:14:26] some people say well government

[2:14:27] shouldn't get involved

[2:14:29] you invited us when you came to the city

[2:14:31] council meeting to get involved so we're

[2:14:34] getting involved in this townhouse in

[2:14:36] this town hall today is to try to help

[2:14:39] work through uh what seems to be a

[2:14:42] crisis at this point we don't want to

[2:14:43] get any worse so thank you again for

[2:14:45] your time your attention your uh being

[2:14:48] here

[2:14:49] [Applause]

[2:14:52] thank you

[2:14:54] it's just a great command so I just want

[2:14:56] to thank everyone for coming on this

[2:14:58] evening

[2:14:59] [Music]

[2:15:02] and we have a lot of take away here and

[2:15:05] as the religion says we're going to meet

[2:15:08] other community meetings

[2:15:10] concern as we heard from you but you

[2:15:13] know what on both sides very soon so I'm

[2:15:15] concern number needs to address

[2:15:22] so all that we've got to work together

[2:15:24] let's work together

[2:15:26] me as a group need to work in another

[2:15:28] city council by the landlord attendant

[2:15:30] one of us addresses unless arrive at a

[2:15:32] conclusion where all of us can walk away

[2:15:34] and Achieve something else so thank you

[2:15:36] again for coming to keep us informed

[2:15:39] thank you

[2:15:42] tonight I just want to thank everybody

[2:15:44] again that came out um we talked about

[2:15:46] this wonderful resource in the community

[2:15:48] I want to be clear that you guys

[2:15:50] recognize that our greatest resource in

[2:15:53] the community is what the people that

[2:15:55] are in the community

[2:15:57] energize maybe to work together I didn't

[2:15:59] come here and just talk and say that

[2:16:01] we're going to bring the city council to

[2:16:03] the people as you see that's what we're

[2:16:04] doing this

[2:16:13] [Applause]

[2:16:15] [Music]

[2:16:18] foreign

Schenectady City Council Town Hall Meeting: Housing, December 1, 2022

Transcript