KINGSTON – Mayor Steven Noble said despite a court challenge to the City of Kingston’s adopted Emergency Tenant Protection Act, the declaration of a housing emergency has not changed, and the measure is still in effect.
The city’s corporation counsel was in court on Friday defending adoption of the local law.
“We believe that we will continue to prevail against these challenges of the city’s vacancy study and our declaration of a local housing emergency,” Mayor Noble said following Friday’s court appearance.
“Our housing vacancy study provided well-researched data to establish Kingston’s housing emergency,” he said. “The data was further supported at a recent hearing of the City of Kingston’s Rent Guidelines Board, where many tenants testified to receiving double-digit rent increase and experiencing intimidation to pay the unreasonable increases or else vacate their home.”
