FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 28, 2023
Mayor Noble Meets with Stony Run Tenants
KINGSTON, NY – Mayor Steven T. Noble was pleased to meet with tenants from Stony Run apartment complex last night, Monday, March 27, 2023.
At a meeting at City Hall in Council Chambers, Mayor Noble and several Council members met with tenants to discuss the proposed regulatory agreement with the Stony Run property owners, AKER.
Mayor Noble said, “I want to thank all the Stony Run tenants who came out to meet with me. They shared their concerns and asked great questions. I hope I was able to ease their minds and alleviate their concerns. My intention for the meeting was to make very clear to the tenants at Stony Run that they will retain their current protections under the Emergency Tenant Protection Act, which I passed in 2022. The regulatory agreement – if approved by the office NYS Homes & Community Renewal, would ensure that, in the event that ETPA should end, Stony Run will not return to market-rate. The agreement makes the apartment complex workforce housing for the next 40 years while also giving the property owners access to funding for much-needed renovations.
“My first concern is the health and safety of Kingston tenants. We have heard from many Stony Run tenants that their units desperately need improvements. I collected documentation of these issues at the meeting, and will work with the City’s Building Safety staff to make sure that any code violations are immediately resolved.
“I believe this regulatory agreement will only benefit the tenants at Stony Run, and I hope that last night’s meeting helped to reassure them that I am working to safeguard their rights and to make sure their home is a safe and comfortable place to live.
“From conducting a vacancy study and being the first upstate municipality to opt into the ETPA, to signing Good Cause Eviction law, to mandating affordable housing in every new housing development, to undertaking the massive effort to rezone our entire community, I have made housing a top priority. I established the Office of Housing Initiatives in 2020 to assist me in using every tool available to combat our local housing crisis.
“I also want to thank the Common Council for their willingness to see the benefits of this agreement while also helping me to clarify with the tenants and the public how it will help Stony Run tenants in the long run.”
At a special meeting on Wednesday, March 22, 2023, the City of Kingston’s Common Council passed a resolution to allow Mayor Noble to enter into discussion and negotiate a regulatory agreement with Stony Run’s property owner, AKER. Mayor Noble will bring the Stony Run tenants’ concerns to the negotiations, and once the agreement is finalized, it will be sent to NYS Homes & Community Renewal for approval.
For more on the City of Kingston’s housing initiatives, please visit https://kingston-ny.gov/housing.