What defines a demo?

The State Division of Housing and Community Renewal has proposed to define what constitutes a demolition plan, which would allow the owner of a rent-stabilized building to evict its tenants. For several years, tenants’ advocates have complained that the lack of a precise definition of demolition has allowed landlords to push out low-rent tenants and create luxury condominiums.

Proposed Demolition Rule Angers 2 Sides in New York Housing Debate

But now that the division has come up with a definition, those advocates do not like it. Neither, it seems, do building owners.

Representatives of both groups testified at a public hearing held by the division, and none of them had much positive to say about the proposed regulations, which would define demolition as the complete gutting of a building’s interior — but not necessarily the removal of its outside walls or support beams.