美国国家公共电台 NPR NYC's Controversial New Rent Measures Could Spread To The Rest Of The State

 

MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:

That Holy Grail of New York housing rent control could be spreading beyond New York City. New York state has signed sweeping¹ new rent laws that could extend protections throughout the state. Cities such as Buffalo² and Rochester can opt³ in to the new rules helping⁴ protect their renters. Landlords call it a dangerous precedent⁵ that will shrink the market of affordable⁶ housing. Charles Lane of member station WSHU reports.

CHARLES LANE, BYLINE⁷: The Upper West Side fairy tale of a rent-controlled apartment could be moving north to Newburgh.

CARLA JOHNSON: There's people living in bedbug city. There's people that's living in mold. There's people that's being locked out. There's people being evicted⁸.

LANE: Carla Johnson is showing off all the places she's been evicted from in Newburgh, a former industrial town on the Hudson River two hours north of Manhattan. She says most apartment owners in Newburgh do the bare minimum to maintain a unit. If tenants¹⁰ complain, they get evicted.

JOHNSON: It's cheaper for the landlord to put you out and move someone else in that doesn't know about the problem.

LANE: But new tenant⁹ protections may be on the way for cities that embrace the new rules. After Democrats¹¹ took control of the state Senate, they were able to tweak and expand a law that only applied¹² to New York City. They closed a number of loopholes allowing landlords to deregulate apartments. But renters outside the city want their officials to adopt these new protections, too. Juanita Lewis is an organizer for the group Community Voices Heard. She's excited to see these new rules possibly spread to other cities in New York state.

JUANITA LEWIS: There's the, you know, right to make sure repairs are done or at least being able to have some comfort in making a complaint to, like, buildings and codes and not feeling like you're about to be retaliated¹³ against. The rent increases wouldn't be as much, whereas right now, Newburgh doesn't have any of those things.

LANE: Alex Rossello follows rent laws around the country for the National Apartment Association, which represents landlords. He says New York now joins Oregon in trying to solve a housing affordability¹⁴ issue.

ALEX ROSSELLO: The trend is spreading to not just the coasts but more and more states. I mean, Colorado had a bill introduced this session. I would predict that Washington will be the next place where you will see this type of policy introduced.

LANE: Rossello and many economists¹⁵ argue that these type of laws do the opposite of what proponents¹⁶ want, actually making housing less affordable by reducing the supply. In Newburgh, some landlords have an immediate¹⁷ response to the new laws.

MICHAEL ACEVEDO: It's time to go. It's time to go. How am I going to survive?

LANE: Michael Acevedo heads the Orange County Landlord Association. He blames tenants, not landlords, for the poor living conditions.

ACEVEDO: The tenants kept wrecking¹⁸ it. I kept going in and fixing it. Finally the mortgage and the taxes were more money than I can rent it for.

LANE: Studies suggest that closing the loopholes and protecting pricey $3,000-a-month apartments only helps wealthy renters. They show overall rent laws tend to shrink the number of regulated apartments as landlords find new loopholes to deregulate them.

ACEVEDO: I mean, you know, you go into business to make money, right? I don't do it for my health. I do it to pay my bills and send my kids to college, you know, whatever.

LANE: Even though much of the research shows that rent control doesn't help most tenants in the long run, advocates say at least current tenants are protected. As tenant advocates work to spread these new protections across the state, a coalition¹⁹ of landlord groups will likely lobby cities not to adopt the new rules. For NPR News, I'm Charles Lane.

1 sweeping   

adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的

参考例句：

• The citizens voted for sweeping reforms.公民投票支持全面的改革。
• Can you hear the wind sweeping through the branches?你能听到风掠过树枝的声音吗？

2 buffalo   

n.(北美)野牛；(亚洲)水牛

参考例句：

• Asian buffalo isn't as wild as that of America's. 亚洲水牛比美洲水牛温顺些。
• The boots are made of buffalo hide. 这双靴子是由水牛皮制成的。

3 opt   

vi.选择，决定做某事

参考例句：

• They opt for more holiday instead of more pay.他们选择了延长假期而不是增加工资。
• Will individual schools be given the right to opt out of the local school authority?各个学校可能有权选择退出地方教育局吗？

4 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

5 precedent   

n.先例，前例；惯例；adj.在前的，在先的

参考例句：

• Is there a precedent for what you want me to do?你要我做的事有前例可援吗？
• This is a wonderful achievement without precedent in Chinese history.这是中国历史上亘古未有的奇绩。

6 affordable   

adj.支付得起的，不太昂贵的

参考例句：

• The rent for the four-roomed house is affordable.四居室房屋的房租付得起。
• There are few affordable apartments in big cities.在大城市中没有几所公寓是便宜的。

7 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

8 evicted   

v.（依法从房屋里或土地上）驱逐，赶出( evict的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• A number of tenants have been evicted for not paying the rent. 许多房客因不付房租被赶了出来。
• They had evicted their tenants for non-payment of rent. 他们赶走了未交房租的房客。

9 tenant   

n.承租人；房客；佃户；v.租借，租用

参考例句：

• The tenant was dispossessed for not paying his rent.那名房客因未付房租而被赶走。
• The tenant is responsible for all repairs to the building.租户负责对房屋的所有修理。

10 tenants   

n.房客( tenant的名词复数 )；佃户；占用者；占有者

参考例句：

• A number of tenants have been evicted for not paying the rent. 许多房客因不付房租被赶了出来。
• Tenants are jointly and severally liable for payment of the rent. 租金由承租人共同且分别承担。

11 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。

13 retaliated   

v.报复，反击( retaliate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• When he once teased her for her inexperience, she retaliated. 有一次，他讥讽她没有经验，她便反唇相讥。 来自辞典例句
• The terrorists retaliated by killing three policemen. 恐怖分子以杀死三名警察相报复。 来自辞典例句

14 affordability   

可购性

参考例句：

• Performance-Based Logistics Affordability: Can We Afford Categorical Conversion to Performance-Based Acquisition? 基于性能的后期的可承受性：能否担负得起向基于性能的采办的无条件的转变？
• There would be no crisis of affordability, as't for food or clothing. 就想食物与服装一样，因为供给没有危机。

15 economists   

n.经济学家，经济专家( economist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The sudden rise in share prices has confounded economists. 股价的突然上涨使经济学家大惑不解。
• Foreign bankers and economists cautiously welcomed the minister's initiative. 外国银行家和经济学家对部长的倡议反应谨慎。 来自《简明英汉词典》

16 proponents   

n.（某事业、理论等的）支持者，拥护者( proponent的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Reviewing courts were among the most active proponents of hybrid rulemaking procedures. 复审法院是最积极的混合型规则制定程序的建议者。 来自英汉非文学 - 行政法
• Proponents of such opinions were arrested as 'traitors. ' 提倡这种主张的人马上作为“卖国贼”逮捕起来。 来自辞典例句

17 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

18 wrecking   

破坏

参考例句：

• He teed off on his son for wrecking the car. 他严厉训斥他儿子毁坏了汽车。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Instead of wrecking the valley, the waters are put to use making electricity. 现在河水不但不在流域内肆疟，反而被人们用来生产电力。 来自辞典例句

19 coalition   

n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合

参考例句：

• The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
• Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。