Extending and strengthening the rent laws that allow millions of New Yorkers to stay in their homes is a top priority for me, Housing Committee Chair Vito Lopez, and the majority of our conference, and I believe it should be included as part of the budget. As a recent report released by the Assembly documents, more than 10,000 rent-regulated apartments are lost in our city each year. We must act to save our threatened stock of affordable housing and protect working families from being priced out of their neighborhoods.