Landlord occupancy of stabilized apartments in New York City may be lower than general perception, according to official reports.
In the heart of New York City, the issue of vacant rent-stabilized apartments has become a contentious topic in policy debates. The Rent Stabilization Association (RSA) and tenant groups have presented contrasting views on the number of low-cost rent-stabilized units being held off the market.
The RSA attributes the estimate of the number of vacant units to strict regulations that prohibit owners from raising rents after a tenant leaves, making it difficult for landlords to break even or turn a profit, especially with rising operating costs. On the other hand, tenant groups criticize landlords for deliberately holding low-rent units off the market, possibly waiting for rule changes or a court decision that will allow them to increase monthly prices.
The Coalition to End Apartment Warehousing has highlighted these problems in buildings across the city. Sam Stein, a Community Service Society housing policy analyst, argues for strong tenant protections and maintains that the intense focus on the number of empty units is understandable, even if it's around 2% of the city's nearly 1 million rent-stabilized apartments.
Last year, the city's Independent Budget Office found around 13,000 rent-stabilized units were vacant and held off the market for more than a year. However, the exact current number of rent-stabilized apartments in New York City that have been vacant and removed from the market for more than one year is not provided in the latest Housing and Vacancy Survey. The city housing agency will produce specific figures after analyzing more granular data from the survey and receiving permission to publish it from the U.S. Census Bureau.
Michael Tobman, spokesperson for the Rent Stabilization Association, stated that strict regulations are compelling owners to keep units offline. On the other hand, Howard Husock, a senior fellow at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, suggests that landlords are using a large number of vacant units to argue that 2019 rent laws are discouraging them from bringing apartments back on the market, while tenants point to the number to say owners are "gaming the system" at their expense.
Lawmakers passed stricter regulations in 2019 to stop landlords from driving tenants out of their units in order to raise rents on the next occupant and even lift the unit out of rent-stabilization altogether. Despite the drop in the number of such units based on the initial results of the city's latest Housing and Vacancy Survey, the problems associated with vacant rent-stabilized apartments can still plague neighboring tenants with issues like free-roaming rats, break-ins, and unaddressed leaks.
As the debate continues, it's clear that both sides are passionate about their positions. The city housing agency's forthcoming figures will likely provide more clarity and potentially steer the conversation in a new direction.
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