N.Y. Emergency Tenant Protection Act § 2
The legislature hereby finds and declares that a serious public emergency continues to exist in the housing of a considerable number of persons in the state of New York , that such emergency necessitates the intervention of federal, state and local government in order to prevent speculative, unwarranted and abnormal increases in rents; that there continues to exist in many areas of the state an acute shortage of housing accommodations caused by continued high demand, attributable in part to new household formations and decreased supply, in large measure attributable to reduced availability of federal subsidies, and increased costs of construction and other inflationary factors; that a substantial number of persons residing in housing not presently subject to the provisions of this act or the emergency housing rent control law or the local emergency housing rent control act are being charged excessive and unwarranted rents and rent increases; that preventive action by the legislature continues to be imperative in order to prevent exaction of unjust, unreasonable and oppressive rents and rental agreements and to forestall profiteering, speculation and other disruptive practices tending to produce threats to the public health, safety and general welfare; that in order to prevent uncertainty, hardship and dislocation, the provisions of this act are necessary and designed to protect the public health, safety and general welfare; that the transition from regulation to a normal market of free bargaining between landlord and tenant, while the ultimate objective of state policy, must take place with due regard for such emergency; and that the policy herein expressed shall be subject to determination of the existence of a public emergency requiring the regulation of residential rents within any city, town or village by the local legislative body of such city, town or village.
N.Y. Emergency Tenant Protection Act Law § 2