Amanda Purcell is reporting for Columbia-Greene Media the city of Hudson is considering the possibility of establishing rent regulation programs to protect tenants in privately owned buildings from accessible and illegal rent increases, Second Ward Alderwoman Tiffany Garriga said last week. “We need to work on creating tenant protection plan for our citizens — we don’t have any,” Garriga said. “...It is amazing. There is nothing there.” The members of the Common Council Housing and Transportation Committee are now looking into the possibility of enacting tenant protection laws, Garriga said. Rent stabilization programs currently exist only in New York City, Nassau, Rockland and Westchester counties. There are no programs established upstate. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in 2015, Hudson had an overall housing vacancy rate of 16.2 percent, and in 2016, the average person spent approximately $749 a month on rent and utilities. Read the full story at HudsonValley360 [dot] com.