Small Property Owners of NY (SPONY) is dedicated to advocating for sound housing policies. Founded 1984 Any other accounts with SPONY are fake accounts.
New York
Joined December 2021
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@TheRealSPONY is the official SPONY twitter account. All other twitter accounts with the SPONY name are fake accounts.
This is outrageous
NYC Squatter Horror Story (fitting for Halloween) - There was a vacant 3-family house in Brooklyn, NY that was listed for sale. A professional squatter broke into the first floor apartment, changed the locks, and claimed residency. He also rented out the upper 2 apts and collected rent. The cops were called but he claimed squatter's rights, so it's a civil matter that needs to be dealt through the years long court process. The owner eventually lost the house in foreclosure, and I bought it at the Brooklyn sheriff sale. I managed to pay the professional squatter a few thousand dollars to leave (he only accepted because he needed the money immediately to pay child support/IRS liens or he would get arrested). After he left, I found out this is the 5th house he broke into and ran this scam on in Brooklyn. Good ol' NYC tenant laws. I'm sure @TheRealSPONY would appreciate this story.
SPONY Small Property Owners of New York retweeted
The bill should have been named Confiscate Our Property Act
NYC City Council are a bunch of communist slobs who've never built anything, never met a payroll, and never made a dime they didn't take from someone else.
Last night they passed COPA, and they did it quietly, because cowards always do.
Here's their scheme. Own a building and want to sell it? You now have to beg City Hall for permission first. Then you wait while their hand-picked cronies get first crack at your property. Only after that do these clowns let you sell your own building.
Don't buy the "nonprofit" label either. These buyers are certified by the city, chosen by the city, and bankrolled by the city. When the government picks the buyer and writes the check, the government is the buyer. It's a land grab dressed up as charity.
My family fled Cuba on a fishing boat when I was seven. I know these people. They always start with "helping tenants," and they always end up owning everything while the buildings crumble.
These freeloaders are strangling small landlords, chasing off investors, and wrecking the city they claim to love.
As Comptroller, I'll audit every dollar of this racket. New York was built by free markets, not by Council Members who couldn't run a lemonade stand.
SPONY Small Property Owners of New York retweeted
@TheRealSPONY members are being crushed by rent theft. our housing courts are completely broken
SPONY Small Property Owners of New York retweeted
The @TheRealSPONY team is thankful to @CMCHRISBANKS42 for the time he spent with us on this issue. Please call your city council member and ask them to support as well. This is just common sense.
SPONY Small Property Owners of New York retweeted
“They are creating the conditions that force a building into financial distress. You have the fallout from HSTPA. They just instituted a two-year rent freeze. They’ve vilified us through publicly funded ‘rental rip-off’ hearings,” she added. “We have broken housing courts. We have runaway taxes and utilities. And all of those things create a financially distressed owner, not a negligent owner. And then they come in with, ‘oh here we have COPA’—a government intervention to solve a problem that they created.”
@TheRealSPONY still opposes COPA!
The Community Opportunity to Purchase Act would give some tenant & community groups pathways to bid early on certain buildings that go up for sale. Five years after it was introduced, it finally has support of the Council, housing officials & the mayor. citylimits.org/is-it-finally…
SPONY Small Property Owners of New York retweeted
Thanks for listening to @TheRealSPONY
SPONY Small Property Owners of New York retweeted
@TheRealSPONY voicemail and email is filled with messages from small property owners who say “I’ll never rent again”!
The Covid “cancel rent” movement has been embraced and the housing courts think there is still an eviction moratorium. Now we have the very public examples of DSA types not paying their rent I expect to receive more and more of these messages as housing providers continue to exit the market. The risk is way too great.
SPONY Small Property Owners of New York retweeted
“That’s a two-tiered justice system where unpaid rent obligations are treated as a nuisance while the case against the owner is treated as an emergency,” he said. “Rent pays for repairs. Freezing rents and dismissing rent cases will not make housing better.”
The Mamdani administration has launched a fast track for some housing court cases. This advances part of the "Fix the City" initiative outlined in the mayor's housing plan: crainsnewyork.com/politics-p…
A rent freeze may sound like tenant protection, but freezing revenue while taxes, insurance, utilities and repair costs keep rising is not sustainable housing policy.
On Fox News, Jose Tur and Natalia Bonanno explain why this approach puts aging rent-stabilized buildings, and affordable housing, at risk.
Rent may be frozen, but property taxes, insurance, utilities, and repair costs are not.
On Fox News, José Tur explains why NYC’s housing policies are putting the American Dream further out of reach for small property owners.
#NYCHousing #SmallPropertyOwners
SPONY Small Property Owners of New York retweeted
As a Hispanic Puerto Rican mom, the question I ask is not about Stuy’s or Bronx Science’s admissions process,
but rather, why are public school kids coming from schools of a Black, Hispanic, etc. majority demographics
are not being taught at the same level and with the same expectations as the more successful groups?
Why are the quality of teachers and teaching oftentimes lower and different to the point of not being able to pass standardized tests?
It is not actually Stuy or Bronx Science Admissions who needs to be held accountable
but the individual schools the kids whom are unable to pass the entrance exam are from.
This test actually provides a window (evidence) that shows the short comings of their education.
Please stop being implicitly racist by having lower and different expectations based on skin color,
and start challenging the schools that are being paid LOTS of tax payer money to teach but actually do not.
#HowTheLeftLostMe
In his FOX 5 New York interview, SPONY board member Jan Lee made one thing clear: Mamdani’s rent freeze may sound simple, but the costs small property owners face are not frozen.
Real estate taxes are not frozen.
Utility rates are not frozen.
Insurance costs are not frozen.
Repairs and maintenance are not frozen.
Small property owners are not asking for special treatment. They are asking for housing policy rooted in fairness, transparency, and basic math.
If New York wants stable housing, City Hall cannot ignore the small owners keeping neighborhood buildings alive.
Find the full interview in the comments below.
#nyc #policy #mamdani #housing
Most people think “landlord” and picture a giant corporation.
What if it’s a 31-year-old New Yorker who owns one small apartment building?
Before you make up your mind on NYC’s rent freeze, watch this. 👇
youtu.be/8hB7nS4flxc?is=SWJ0…
The Rent Guidelines Board is often treated like it can solve every housing problem in New York City. But the RGB has one specific job: reviewing the economics of rent-stabilized housing and setting annual rent adjustments based on operating conditions.
Tenant and owner hardship is real. Housing quality matters. Affordability matters.
But different problems require different tools. If New York wants lower rent pressure, policymakers need to address the costs behind the rent: taxes, water rates, insurance, fuel, financing, and the rising cost of keeping buildings stable. This should not be owners vs. tenants. A better housing conversation starts with facts.
Ask a small property owner about their building, and you’ll often hear a family story first.
Decades of sacrifice. Long hours. Risk. A belief that New York could be a place to build something for the next generation.
Many of these buildings have housed families for decades. They’ve survived downturns, 9/11, COVID, rising costs, and constant change.
But today, many small owners are facing a hard reality: they want to keep investing in their buildings and communities, but the numbers are getting harder to make work.
SPONY exists to make sure they don’t face those challenges alone.
Because behind every building is a family, a legacy, and an American Dream worth protecting.
#NYC #NYCHousing #HousingPolicy #PropertyOwners #RealEstate
Small property owners are the backbone of New York City housing.
Across the five boroughs, countless apartment buildings are owned by families, immigrants, retirees, and longtime New Yorkers—not large corporate landlords.
They know their tenants. They maintain their buildings. They pay rising taxes, insurance, and repair costs while keeping neighborhoods stable.
When policy ignores the reality of small property ownership, NYC risks losing local ownership, generational legacy, and stronger communities.
Protecting small property owners means protecting New York itself.
#NYC #NYCHousing #NYCRealEstate #HousingPolicy #PropertyRights
SPONY Small Property Owners of New York retweeted
So we’ve successfully ended landlord “mistreatment”? Guess you can’t claim it’s happening at scale anymore since you’ve solved it.
You also didn’t disagree with the redlining again. Very telling.
Brooklyn has something to say to @CMSandyNurse ........
#stopcopanow here's why C.O.P.A. is bad for The market and bad for small owners ....