Kingston’s role as the Hudson Valley’s rent-control test case may prove to be short-lived.
A new city vacancy study found rates in buildings covered by the Emergency Tenant Protection Act at 7.04 percent this spring, above the 5 percent limit required to declare a “housing emergency” and keep rent caps in place, the Times Union reported.
The results come less than two months after New York’s highest court upheld Kingston’s ETPA program, a decision hailed by tenant advocates as a landmark win.
The Court of Appeals rejected a challenge from the Hudson Valley Property Owners Association, which argued the city’s 2022 vacancy study was flawed and that its Rent Guidelines Board overstepped by ordering a 15 percent rent rollback in stabilized buildings. The ruling let that reduction stand and opened the door for tenants to seek refunds.
Now, those same protections could shrink or disappear. The city’s director of housing initiatives, Bartek Starodaj, will present the findings to the Common Council’s Laws and Rules Committee next week.
Kingston’s ETPA initially covered 64 buildings and 1,200 apartments; exemptions and rehab projects have cut that to fewer than 1,000 units, under 20 percent of the city’s rentals.
The 2025 survey differed in its approach, using a “targeted sampling” that excluded some large complexes like 267-unit Stony Run, which is still under ETPA after a recent state ruling.
Council members can adjust which buildings qualify — for instance, covering only those with 22-plus units, where vacancies are 3.73 percent — but can’t expand eligibility beyond ETPA’s pre-1974, six-unit minimum.
Assemblymember Sarahana Shrestha slammed the process as “absolute nonsense,” saying the 5 percent vacancy trigger fails to capture actual housing strain.
Median home prices in Ulster County have tripled since 2016 to $421,800, median rents have doubled to $2,000 and more than half of Kingston renters are cost-burdened.
The city has over 600 units in its pipeline — the most since the 1970s — and has rolled out rezoning, short-term rental caps and “good cause” eviction to protect tenants, but Mayor Steve Noble says housing remains “a very challenging issue.”
The Common Council’s call on whether to keep, tweak or scrap rent stabilization will be closely watched by lawmakers and activists pushing to scrap the vacancy requirement for small cities adopting ETPA.
If Kingston backs off, it could mark the first rollback of rent stabilization in New York.
Read more
Kingston rent control survives court challenge
The Daily Dirt: NY State bill seeks to ease opt-ins for rent stabilization
Hudson Valley landlords seek to kill rent stabilization in its infancy
