YETTA KURLAND ISSUES STATEMENT ON RENT INCREASES
New York -- Yetta Kurland, candidate for City Council in District 3, issued the following statement today after it was announced that the Rent Guidelines Board had approved rent increases of 4 and 7.75 percent for rent-stabilized apartments on Thursday:
"Middle class New Yorkers are struggling to afford skyrocketing rents in the City, and people who are trying to break into the middle class in the first place are finding Manhattan more unaffordable than ever.
"The Rent Guidelines Board is increasing the pressure on families at a time when that pressure needs to go down--not up. This unwelcome news is a reminder that the real estate industry has more than its share of influence over life in New York, and the new City Council needs to put the needs of ordinary New Yorkers before the interests of real estate executives."