Tausif Hassan (Chaya CDC) on speculation as business model and COPA

Good morning, Chair Sanchez, committee members.

My name is Tausif Hassan.

I'm the Associate Director of Housing Stability at Chaya CDC.

You've heard about our organization from my colleagues.

I work with the tenant organizing team where we organize tenants in rent-stabilized buildings all over Queens.

Buildings owned by some of the worst landlords in the city, like Zara, Bronstein, Summit, and Pinnacle.

And we're also in the process of organizing a community land trust.

You've heard about the conditions that tenants face from my colleagues.

Most of the tenants that we work with are working class, people of color, immigrants, and they face horrible conditions.

Meanwhile, their landlords are consistently on the worst landlords list.

They're billionaires.

They're corporations.

They're creating and maintaining systemic conditions of neglect and harassment.

And that's because their business model is to push out low-income tenants for whiter and wealthier tenants that can afford higher rents.

These landlords aren't in the business of providing dignified housing.

They're in the business of extracting maximum profits from what they see as assets in the shape of buildings.

And some of them have amassed portfolios of dozens of buildings over the years.

Corporations have been buying up multifamily homes from individual owners at an accelerated rate since the 2000s.

And now they make up the vast majority of rent-stabilized landlords.

Now most of them are...

The sales of rent-stabilized buildings simply transfer ownership from one corporation to another.

Even distressed properties are mostly transferred to manage financial liabilities and create portfolios, not to actually address conditions for tenants.

This illustrates what the buildings really represent to landlords and that it's stocks, not homes for New Yorkers to live and build community.

Conditions have deteriorated and rents have skyrocketed because of this frenzy of speculation that has gone on uninterrupted for decades.

New Yorkers deserve to live in dignified, affordable homes, and that's why we need COPA to allow tenants to have a fighting chance to disrupt speculation and bring housing under community control.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Kudos on, what was it, 2,500 conversations?

2,500, yeah.

No, thank you.

This is the third time that we've heard this, that I literally, I have heard this piece of legislation, and I just thank you for all that you've done to get us here and

urge you to stay at the table, keep calling my colleagues who may be on the fence about the bill just so that we can get the traction we need to finally pass COPA.

Thank you.

I will now call the next panel from Local 3.

And Local 3, kudos to you for sending me the testimony in advance.

It's very helpful.

Michael Jordan, Michael Grunert, Michael Payumbe, I'm sorry for the pronunciation, and then from Local 1, Freddie Delegati.

Are you making trouble over there?

Ardian?

Okay.

We also have Richard Gilligan.

Richard?

Okay.

So Freddie is not testifying?

All right.

Thank you.

And whoever is ready can begin.

I'm sorry, is your microphone on?

Sorry.

Okay.

Can we restart?

I want you to get cut off.

Again.

All right, there we go.

All right.