A New York City pension fund has adopted standards aimed at encouraging the landlords it invests in to limit rent increases and provide 30 days’ notice for eviction filings. The city’s four other pensions could follow.
New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, who is in charge of the city’s public pensions, said he started hearing from tenants a few years ago in his previous role as a city council member. People in his district were facing steep rent increases after their buildings were acquired by an investor. He learned that the Texas Permanent School Fund, a sovereign-wealth fund that supports education in its home state, had money in Brooklyn rental properties by way of its private-equity investments. The idea of a Texas fund affecting housing in New York didn’t sit well.