The senior citizens who live in the affordable-housing rental apartment “River Pointe at Drum Hill” at 100 Ringgold St. opened a letter from building owner Conifer in late July and gasped.
Money can be tight for many living there as residency is restricted to those with lower incomes. The letter informed the seniors that their monthly rent was increasing up to 8.4% starting Nov. 1, forcing them to come up with an extra monthly payment some just don’t have.
For 101-year-old resident Dee Volz, her first concern was for her friends in the building.
“I worry about my other neighbors who have lower fixed incomes and live on so little,” Dee told the Herald. “My Social Security went up some but the increase is three times over the raised income.
“The management should be aware this is affecting the older people’s groceries budget and some don’t have the family support I do. They can’t afford so much rent all at once.”
The shock was also confusing for another resident, Nancy Wareham-Gordon, who just signed a lease and moved into the building a month earlier.
“I do not understand why I am included in this rent increase due Nov 1st, if I moved to River Pointe at Drum Hill on June 15th and signed a one-year lease contract. Why should I, as a new tenant have to pay for long overdue infrastructure improvements to the property when I had only lived a mere 47 days before receiving the Rent Increase Notice on July 31st?” Wareham-Gordon said.
[River Pointe at Drum Hill is not affiliated with Drum Hill at Senior Living Community at 90 Ringgold St.]
Allowed by state law, needed as expenses rise
The rent increase at River Pointe at Drum Hill is permissible under the state laws that oversee this project. Rents can be increased once a calendar year regardless of when a lease is signed.
A representative for Conifer explained the need for the rent increase in an email to the Herald.
“We understand that rent increases can be a burden, especially in a time when everyone is feeling the impact of rising costs across the board. The decision to increase rents was not made lightly,” said Dave Lanzillo, Director, Marketing + Communications, Conifer.
“Just as our residents are facing higher prices for essentials like gas and food, we too are experiencing significant increases in our operational costs, including utilities, insurance and maintenance. At the same time, we continue to invest in capital improvements to enhance our communities.
“For years, we’ve been committed to keeping rent increases within industry standards. In fact, we have not increased rents at River Pointe since 2022 and our rents are very much in line with comparable communities. While an increase is challenging, we’ve worked diligently to keep it as low as possible while ensuring we can maintain the quality and services our residents expect,” Lanzillo said.
A typical resident at River Pointe with an income limit of $54,700 for a single person now paying $1,075 rent for a one-bedroom apartment will pay an extra $90 per month. With the existing utility charge of $108 monthly, the total monthly bill will now be $1,273. The maximum that person’s rent could ever reach is $1,376.
Local, state, federal, nonprofit and private sources funded River Pointe at Drum Hill. Westchester County provided $860,000 of HOME funds for part of the construction and $1.3 million from its Housing Implementation Fund for infrastructure improvements.
Additional funding was provided by the New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal, $7.865 million; the Federal Home Loan Bank, $344,000; the First Niagara Bank, $1.75 million; New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, $100,000; the New York State Housing Trust Fund, $1.725 million; and an equity contribution from Conifer Realty, LLC., $484,500. The building has 43 units and was built in 2010.
Is rent control an option for Peekskill?
There are no rent control laws in Peekskill now. Landlords aren’t restricted generally in how they price rents, but some buildings that receive public financing through tax credits or low-interest loans must stay within the guidelines of those programs.
There are two rent control programs that the Peekskill Common Council could consider in the future in order to put a cap on rent increases – Emergency Tenant Protection Act (ETPA) measures or adopting Good Cause Eviction.
The renter protections under ETPA can only be applied to buildings constructed prior to 1974 and with six or more units. And under the state’s new Good Cause Eviction law, rents can be raised by 5% plus the region’s annual increase in the Consumer Price Index (CPI), or 10%, whichever is lower This year, rent increases under Good Cause are allowed up to 8.82%.
Tina Volz-Bongar and others have contacted local elected officials hoping to find a way to prevent or reduce the rent increases at River Pointe. Volz-Bongar, who is active in organizing and helping tenants living in Peekskill Housing Authority apartments, is the daughter of one of the River Pointe residents.
“The City of Peekskill Common Council could protect seniors on fixed incomes in the future by enacting Emergency Tenant Protection Act (ETPA) measures or adopting Good Cause Eviction, just as Beacon, Kingston and Poughkeepsie have done,” Volz-Bongar said. “By choosing not to adopt these protections, they are choosing the interests of landlords and developers over those who need their representation the most. It’s a choice.”
Another option that might help seniors in Peekskill living in certain rent-controlled apartments is a state program, Senior Citizen Rent Increase Exemption (SCRIE). Several communities in Westchester have adopted SCRIE, which reimburses landlords for rent increases for eligible senior tenants under the program’s income limits. Seniors don’t pay the rent increases.
In Kingston, a Rent Guidelines Board established under ETPA made history in November 2022 by ordering a 15% reduction in rents for certain buildings in the city. The Kingston law covers 64 buildings with approximately 1,200 rental units, where the average rent has doubled since 2015 and where home values have increased 50 percent since 2020.
Challenged by landlords in both state and federal court, the rent reduction order remains in limbo while courts decide the outcome. The law was upheld by a New York state appeals court in March 2024.
Maintaining profit margins, trying to pay the monthly bills
Landlords face ever-increasing costs to maintain their properties and, as expected, don’t welcome rent controls.
“There are three big drivers in terms of what may prompt someone to have a rent increase,” said Tim Foley CEO and executive vice president of the Building and Realty Institute of Westchester and the Mid-Hudson Region (BRI). “The first is insurance – we’ve seen insurance skyrocket in the last couple of years. Some of our property owners who are landlords have seen their insurance premiums increase by 50% in a single year, which is a lot.
“Repairs and maintenance are a perennial concern and inflation obviously impacts building supplies. Prices, particularly lumber, for a couple of years was through the roof. Also, increases in property taxes, particularly a landlord that hasn’t been assessed for a while. Those are the three areas that have the most impact,” he said.
Conifer Realty, LLC, the owner of Drum Hill at River Pointe, is an affiliate of Belveron Partners, a privately-held investment firm focused on the creation, preservation and revitalization of affordable and workforce housing throughout the United States. Privately-held Belveron is based in San Francisco and held $1.2 billion in assets under management in 2023 according to published information.
The company was named the sixth largest owner of affordable housing in the nation by Affordable Housing Finance Magazine (AHF) for 2023. With a controlling interest in 26,175 apartment homes with rents at or below 80 percent area median income (AMI) across 272 properties nationwide, this was Belveron-Conifer’s third year in a row appearing on the definitive “Top 50” list for the affordable housing industry.
Meanwhile, back in Peekskill, the huge rent increase just a few months into her new lease will be a heavy financial burden for Nancy Wareham-Gordon.
“The 8.25 % rent increase by Conifer Development is more than the Cost of Living (COLA) increase for both my NYSLRS Pension and the COLA for my Social Security Disability Benefit combined,” Wareham-Gordon said. “It is a $90 a month rent increase which would mean the equivalent of an extra or an additional one month of rent.”
