Ariel Zangla reports in the Daily Freeman that the City of Kingston has declared a housing emergency. Rent control regulations can now be enacted on city properties built prior to 1974 that have six or more units. The Common Council voted 7-1 on July 28 for a resolution declaring a housing emergency in the city and enacting regulations under the state’s Emergency Tenant Protection Act. Minority Leader Michael Olivieri, a registered Democrat who won the Ward 7 election on the Republican Party line, was the lone no vote. Mayor Steve Noble signed the legislation into law on July 29. “I am pleased to be able to codify this legislation and to implement these tenant protections here in Kingston,” Noble said in a statement. “We have known we have a housing crisis in Kingston, and this is yet another step we are taking to protect our residents and make sure that everyone who wishes to live in Kingston is able to. With this law, there are more than 1,200 rental units that are now entitled to rent stabilization.” An undeclared housing crisis exists throughout the Hudson Valley, with few new affordable housing going on the market recently. The problem of higher rents and few available units was made worse by the pandemic, with an influx of new, wealthy homeowners and renters moving to the area from New York City recently. “We are living in a time where housing, in particular, affordable housing, is almost nonexistent,” Majority Leader Rita Worthington, D-Ward 4, said. “There is a housing crisis in our city. This resolution … does not and will not solve the entirety of the crisis that we find ourselves in. But I do believe it is a step in the right direction.” Read more about this story in the Daily Freeman.