October 06, 2008 10:21 am Deeper pockets seem to be necessary these days to get by with the costs of daily living. It requires digging deeper to heat our homes, put gasoline into the tank, buy groceries and pay taxes. Take heart, for Oneontans were experiencing much of the same in 1953, especially around April 1. Rent on the place you were living could go up as much as the landlord wished, because across New York, rents were decontrolled. This came after no rent increases since World War II. In 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed into law the Emergency Price Control Act that provided for a universal, nationwide price regulatory system. Price controls were the government's response to inflationary pressures from the wartime economy that channeled resources exclusively to the war effort. With the end of the war and the normalization of the national economy, the EPCA was allowed to expire in 1947, and controls were put on at the state levels. New York's laws expired April 1, 1953. A severe housing shortage had been created here and elsewhere during World War II as many moved to villages and cities for jobs in the defense industry. The Oneonta Star reported Feb. 3 that Oneonta's housing situation was still critical, with demand for rental units high and the supply low. A majority of students at the State University College at Oneonta and Hartwick College were living off campus, as few dormitories had been built by this time. Enrollment at both colleges was up in 1953, thanks to the GI Bill providing a college education for veterans. Once the rent decontrol law went into effect, a landlord could raise the rent on a unit only after a tenant left. So if tenants didn't have to move, they probably held on for the lower rent. Meanwhile, landlords likely wanted the tenants to go so they could hike the rent. Renters couldn't be evicted simply because the landlord wanted more rent. Landlords were required to file for rent increases, eviction certificates and any change in services on their properties. In New York, the Temporary State Housing Rent Commission was established in 1950 and had offices all over the state. Oneonta's office was in Room 28 of City Hall, now offices for Otsego County, at 242 Main St. Beatrice Vaughn held regular office hours on Mondays. Shortly after the law took effect, Vaughn reported that five or six dwellings were being decontrolled each Monday. On the week of April 28, she said that three landlords reported rent increases of $23 to $37, $40 to $50 and $35 to $40 per month. Vaughn said Oneonta's increases were reasonable. "It's nothing at all like Binghamton," she said. "Rents have gone up there 100 percent and more in many instances." Rent decontrol was considered one of the hottest issues facing the state Legislature that year. At a public hearing in Albany in February, an Associated Press report told how the hearing was "punctuated by boos, catcalls and applause from landlords and tenants." One landlord group asked that controls be abolished because approval of controls "are placing their approval on communism." Also making news that spring: If your rent wasn't going up, your taxes were. Gov. Thomas Dewey's budget called for at least $16.6 million in new taxes for the total state budget of $1.07 billion. The 2008 budget is approximately $120 billion. This weekend, a local banker who enjoyed the good life a bit too much. ___ City Historian Mark Simonson's column appears twice weekly. On Saturdays, his column focuses on the area during the Depression and before. His Monday columns address local history after the Depression. If you have feedback or ideas about the column, write to him at The Daily Star, or e-mail him at simmark@stny.rr.com. His website is www.oneontahistorian.com.
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