ALBANY, N.Y. (AP)  -- Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver wants new laws to protect tenants in and around New York City from landlords seeking to evict them and raise rents.

The Assembly's Democratic majority says the measures are needed because landlords are gentrifying apartments from lifelong family homes into high-priced luxury units.

Silver, who lives in Manhattan, says tenants protected by rent control laws are being targeted in the boroughs as property values rise.

The Senate's Republican majority doesn't like the bills. Instead, the GOP lawmakers want to extend the rent control law that keeps rent payments affordable for more families.

Both chambers would have to agree on a bill for it to become law.