Daniel Trotta, Reuters
- U.S. Rep. Charles Rangel, chairman of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, has agreed to give up an office he has rented at below-market rates and which has raised the concerns of ethics watchdogs.
The office was one of three apartments Rangel was renting in a luxury complex in Harlem, the predominantly black district the Democrat has represented since being elected to Congress in 1970.
All are rent-stabilized under a program to preserve affordable housing in New York City.
Such flats were meant to be reserved only for a person’s primary residence, and the disclosure — first reported in The New York Times — comes amid a wider gentrification battle in Harlem, where landlords have been trying to evict tenants from rent-stabilized apartments and rent them on the open market.
In a news conference after the Times story came out on Friday, Rangel, 78, adamantly defended his right to live in multiple rent-stabilized apartments but said he would examine whether it was proper to use one for a campaign office.
Rangel issued no formal statement that he was moving out of the office but the move was confirmed by his congressional staff in New York on Tuesday.
House Republicans were keeping an eye on developments, saying an ethics investigation might be in order.
The private group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington said an ethics violation would hinge on whether Rangel received a special deal from the developer or building owner.
Increasing numbers of whites have been moving into Harlem, long a center for black culture, generating tension.
Rangel is a popular congressman who carries additional clout as chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, which oversees tax and trade policies.
Rangel said he moved about 20 years ago into one 16th-floor apartment that previously had been two units combined into one. He subsequently rented an adjacent apartment that he uses as a den and as an extra bedroom when his children and grandchildren visit.
Ten years ago he rented the third apartment on a lower floor that he uses as campaign office.
The Times said Rangel paid a combined $3,894 in monthly rent for properties that would be worth $7,465 to $8,125 a month on the open market.
