On the ballot this election cycle is an important referendum question for all registered voters in Hoboken pertaining to the future of rent control protections within the City of Hoboken. Voters who receive a Vote by Mail ballot will have this referendum question on the reverse side of the ballot (which will need to be flipped over to access).
Hoboken rent control protections: current Hoboken law
According to current Hoboken law, annual rent increases imposed by landlords in residential units subject to rent control are capped at either 5% or the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rate, whichever is lower. However, when a unit has been occupied for three years or more and becomes vacant, landlords can raise the rent by up to 25%—a process known as "partial vacancy decontrol." This increase can only happen once every three years for the same unit.
Referendum impact on rent control protections
If adopted, the proposed referendum ordinance would allow landlords to increase rent to market rates without the 25% limitation when a unit becomes vacant, regardless of how long the prior lease was. In exchange, landlords would pay a $2,500 fee to the City of Hoboken, which would go into the Affordable Housing Trust Fund to support affordable housing initiatives in the City.
A “No” Vote Means: You support maintaining the current Rent Control Code and increases upon vacancies as they are currently limited -- to the above-referenced "lesser of the 5%/CPI" increase or to a maximum of 25% if no 25% increase had been charged in the prior three years, or longer. There would be no option for an unlimited rent increase upon vacancy coupled with a $2,500 fee paid to the City of Hoboken to be deposited in the City's Affordable Housing Trust Fund.
A “Yes” Vote Means: You support an amendment to the City’s Rent Control Code to allow landlords to increase the rent upon any vacancy to whatever the market would bear without any limitation (i.e., without the current 5%/CPI limit and three year/25% increase restriction) if they pay a fee of $2,500 per unit, which would be deposited into the Hoboken Affordable Housing Trust Fund. Thereafter, the unit’s rent would once again be subject to the Rent Control Code’s limitations. This would replace the current restrictions in the Rent Control Code, which caps rent increases upon vacancy to 5%/CPI limit (whichever is less) and a maximum of 25% after a vacancy of three years or more.
