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Just in case anybody is interested in what de Blasio actually is proposing: http://www.billdeblasio.com/issues/affordable-housing http://www.billdeblasio.com/is

• fennecfoxen 13y ago
  I assume your shock is for rhetorical purposes only. Anyway. There's plenty of feelgood language with destructive consequences on the backend. But I'll point out a lovely bit: "Bring Basements and Granny Flats into the Legal System There are thousands of unsanctioned housing units across the city in basements and above garages — but the city doesn’t recognize them. That deprives tenants of legal protections, and prevents landlords from making the kinds of upgrades that would ensure the health and safety of families living in them. Bill de Blasio will end the practice of pretending these homes and their families don’t exist. As mayor, he will bring them into the regulated housing system, ensure they meet legal standards for safety, and work to bring them under rent-regulation, so their tenants will have the same basic protections as New Yorkers in traditional apartments." Yes. Protections like "gee, if I rent out my basement to someone, it sounds like there will be a bunch of extra regulatory requirements. I'll need to be careful or my tenants might take me to Housing Court and get a free legal advocate like deBlasio proposes in another section, and get me on some technicality, and then I won't be able to evict them. Maybe I'll reconsider whether to bother at all." And he's right! That's exactly the same sort of awesome protection that existing rent control already provides!