Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Tenants paying higher % of income in rent as affordable housing supply drops

The Community Service Society has issued a terrific report, "What New Yorkers Want from the New Mayor: An Affordable Place to Live" that points out
  • Rising rents wiped out income gains as the recession ended
  • Nearly 400,000 affordable units were lost from 2002 through 2011
  • Bloomberg's PlaNYC did not include affordable housing at all.
The State (not the City) controls 
  • the criteria for the Rent Guidelines Board, 
  • the continuation of vacancy decontrol (which motivates owners to oust regulated tenants so owners can raise rents without tenant protections), and
  • permanent Major Capital Improvement and Individual Apartment Improvement increases.
If the State won't end these, we need home rule: NYC control over rents and evictions so that politicians who determine it are accountable to those affected by those laws.
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