Smoking gun: Former state official reveals secret decision that kneecapped landlords

In 2023, under pressure from lawmakers, tenant organizers and New York Attorney General Letitia James, state housing regulators secretly changed a policy to make it harder to remove buildings from rent stabilization. No public discussion was held, nor was any notice given to the real estate industry, according to a bombshell statement by Woody Pascal. At the time he was in charge of substantial rehabilitations — the state program being kneecapped — and had been since 2010. Pascal learned of the move at a mid-2023 meeting with other state housing officials. He raised objections but they were dismissed, except for […]

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