With some of the strongest renter protections in the country, New York has been the epicenter of tenant power for a century. Though it doesn’t extend to the whole state, the existing system of rent control, known as “rent stabilization,” still protects nearly one million households from unregulated rent increases and arbitrary evictions.

But at the same time, New York is the epicenter of real estate power, gentrification, and unaffordable housing. Over half the state’s renters are rent burdened, and more than a hundred people are evicted each day. This month, rent stabilization will expire altogether and need to be renewed, giving both the real estate industry and the tenant movement an opportunity to win gains in either direction.

Our current system, the Emergency Tenant Protection Act (ETPA), is a product of a century of struggle between landlords and tenants. Rent control has been under assault since its inception, and in recent decades property owners have made major progress in weakening the laws. ETPA is full of loopholes that lead to tenant harassment and burdensome rent hikes. Nearly three hundred thousand apartments have been deregulated since 1991, and rent stabilized landlords’ net operating income has grown by 64 percent in that period.