the mile Square city of Hoboken is poised for a battle between its renters and landlords after the city council this week unanimously voted down changes to rent control rules instead voters will be asked to decide through a referendum in November whether it should be made easier for property owners to raise rent prices when Apartments turn over it's a controversial topic that's rarely agreed upon a senior correspondent Joanna gagas reports it comes at a time when many say housing affordability has reached crisis levels when you're collecting rents that are from 1980 and all the expenses still go up I'm not talking just about taxes Insurance uh I pay for heat in my building so the gas and electric and all that you need to be able to keep your building I need a lot of repairs right now so you know all the money is going back into the building Rosemary Markle is a landlord in Hoboken who supports an ordinance that would change the way landlords can increase rent in their rent controlled Apartments this ordinance would allow Property Owners to pay $2,500 to vacancy decontrol their apartment meaning that the apartment could go to a market rent once vacant not for the existing tenant only once vacant and there' be a $2,500 contribution to the affordable housing trust fund every single time Ron simonini is executive director of the mil Square Tax Association a group that represents landlords in Hoboken he's angry because the Hoboken City Council voted no on the proposed ordinance they helped to draft we worked out a set of amendments to the rank Control Ordinance that were proposed by the council structured by the council and then voted on by the council which voted 90 against the very amendments that they proposed current law in Hoboken requires that any annual rent increases for rent control departments must be capped at 5% per year for existing tenants they can impose a 25% increase only when a tenant vacates the rent controlled unit the measure to change this rule was voted down on Monday after a huge crowd showed up to protest the changes ultimately we believe that housing is a human right and that our laws should be skewed to making sure that people can stay in their homes and aren't paying exorbitant amounts for rent in one of the most expensive cities to rent a home in the US already as an example a unit that's rent controlled at $800 a month could increase to up to $4,000 a month to meet hoboken's current market rate Jake Ephros is with the Hudson County Democratic socialists of America who turned out in large numbers to protest the ordinance Fifth Ward councilman Phil Cohen says the city council heard them it wasn't defeated because it was not the negotiation wasn't done in good faith it was defeated because the people heard what was being presented and rejected it Cohen says they never liked the compromise ordinance to begin with but drafted it with the mil Square Tax Association to avoid the issue moving to a ballot measure in November which is what's going to happen now that the council has voted it down and based on the community turnout he believes they'll vote it down too Simoncini believes it'll pass because residents will like the fact that landlords will pay into the affordable housing trust fund that will raise some place between 10 and $15 million for affordable housing right now the council is taking the position well our rent control is our affordable housing it's not true to paint with a broad brush to say that we should basically throw out all rent control and have all of our units revert to Market rates for just $2500 Which is less than the average rent in Hoboken if you had a thousand units where they PID $2,500 we would lose a thousand low Market rental units uh in exchange for $2.5 million which in this housing market is not going to buy a whole lot of affordable housing and that actually incentivizes landlords to take out tenants whether um through you know explicit evictions or kind of soft evictions where they stop dealing with all the things in the building they need to deal with and renters get fed up so they move all of a sudden there's a vacant unit and the landlord can pay a relatively minimal fee and then hike up for the rent time but Markle says she needs that flexibility to maintain her home that's in need of repairs and have more money to maybe make the apartment better the buildings better they're old all these buildings are well over 100 years old and you know I'm not looking to throw anybody out I have a tenant with me for 20 years both sides are planning to get out their vote before November's election in Hoboken I'm Joanna Gagis NJ Spotlight news