Damn high to higher for rents
Deregulation near on 100,000 apts.
MORE THAN 100,000 rent-regulated apartments are on the verge of flipping to higher market rates because of a loophole in the state housing law — setting the stage for housing to become even more expensive in the coming months, according to a new analysis.
It’s particularly disturbing, advocates say, because the neighborhoods about to lose the most regulated apartments are some of the priciest in the city, which will likely lead to once-relatively cheap apartments hitting rents of about $4,000 a month.
The lower Manhattan/Tribeca area stands to lose the most regulated units.
Forty-six percent of the area’s 19,000 regulated apartments are expected to be priced out of the system soon, according to a city analysis of census figures.
The market rate for a studio in that area is a whopping $3,888 — and that’s without a doorman.
Other neighborhoods in danger of losing close to half of their regulated apartments include the Upper West Side — where market-rate studios on average cost $2,792 a month — and Chelsea, where the average studio price is $3,222 a month.
All of the apartments about to be deregulated currently charge rents of about $2,100, which is at the high end for regulated units.
Under the current law, once a tenant moves out of a rent-regulated apartment, the landlord is allowed to jack up the monthly rent by 20%.
That process is known as vacancy deregulation
Adding 20% to $2,100 bumps all 100,000 of those apartments out of the program, which cuts off at $2,500.
Losing 100,000 relatively affordable apartments — roughly 10% of the city’s total number of rent-regulated apartments — would be a “disaster,” said Michael McKee, a veteran housing advocate and treasurer of the New York Tenants Political Action Committee. “New York City has never had a loose housing market, but it’s worse than it has ever been,” he said.
One reason is the huge population growth, he said. The city is currently at a record high of 8.5 million people.
“The housing supply has remained essentially steady, and more people are chasing the same amount of units,” he said.
McKee said he regularly hears stories of landlords offering a couple of thousand bucks to tenants around the $2,100 rent mark to persuade them to move out, or refusing to fix things just so they’ll be miserable and leave.
Billie Causieestko, a Brooklyn single mother, has seen it firsthand.
She moved into her Clinton Hill building a decade ago with a starting rent of $1,950. She’s now up to $2,600, but her unit is still rent-stabilized because she hasn’t moved out.
She said her management company is so desperate to get her out, they’ve resorted to unscrupulous tactics.
“All winter, we fought with them for heat,” she said. “I had to use a space heater every single day.”
The company also refuses to cash her rent checks, and won’t renew her lease, she said.
“It’s stressful,” she said. “You feel as though you don’t have any stability.”
The imminent hit to the city’s rapidly dwindling affordable housing stock comes at a crucial time. The vacancy deregulation law — along with others governing regulated apartments — expires June 15.
Mayor de Blasio and other advocates are fighting to end vacancy deregulation all together to preserve these rent-stabilized units.
“Thousands of tenants are facing illegal harassment and eviction because there is so much money to be made by flipping a rent-stabilized apartment to market rate,” de Blasio told the Daily News.