New York's Rent Regulation Fight
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Re: New York's Rent Regulation Fight
#2This is the problem with housing subsidies: they very often go to those who don't need them. In New York, your choice of apartment is primarily based on location -- anything that's not in the >$1 million range is pretty similar. So if you're looking at two apartments near your work and the rent stabilized one is $1200/mo and the other is $3000/mo, you try to get the $1200/mo one even if you could afford the $3000/mo one. I guarantee you it's not $1800/mo nicer.
You see this effect anywhere that supply of rental housing is a problem. If you implement price controls, people with high incomes will seek out lower rents. They'll still often end up driving out the lower-income folks, because if you're a landlord with two applications for a vacant apartment, you're going to favor the one with better credit. Rent controls also deter landlords from investing, both in existing properties and in new ones.
IMO the right answer (and this is not a popular sentiment) is to let rents float and have certain desirable areas of certain cities end up effectively "off limits" to lower income renters. Is it fair? Not particularly, but the side effects of this situation are that the people who can afford to shoulder the costs associated with their way of life are the ones actually doing so. They are going to crowd low-income renters out of the neighborhood eventually anyway, and hopefully a housing / worker shortage would prompt the city to actually develop a low income housing solution rather than forcing landlords to just deal with rents too low for even basic maintenance.
Re: New York's Rent Regulation Fight
#3This is the problem with housing subsidies: they very often go to those who don't need them. In New York, your choice of apartment is primarily based on location -- anything that's not in the >$1 million range is pretty similar. So if you're looking at two apartments near your work and the rent stabilized one is $1200/mo and the other is $3000/mo, you try to get the $1200/mo one even if you could afford the $3000/mo…
The type of "price controls" that you are railing against do not exist in New York City and to the best of my knowledge have never existed there. Maybe during World War II.
Re: New York's Rent Regulation Fight
#4This is the problem with housing subsidies: they very often go to those who don't need them. In New York, your choice of apartment is primarily based on location -- anything that's not in the >$1 million range is pretty similar. So if you're looking at two apartments near your work and the rent stabilized one is $1200/mo and the other is $3000/mo, you try to get the $1200/mo one even if you could afford the $3000/mo…
Not necessarily disagreeing with you. But the practical meaning of that is that, in the case of New York, this means the entire island of Manhattan becomes a playground for the wealthy and the people who keep that playground humming are relegated to the outer boroughs.
Re: New York's Rent Regulation Fight
#5This is the problem with housing subsidies: they very often go to those who don't need them. In New York, your choice of apartment is primarily based on location -- anything that's not in the >$1 million range is pretty similar. So if you're looking at two apartments near your work and the rent stabilized one is $1200/mo and the other is $3000/mo, you try to get the $1200/mo one even if you could afford the $3000/mo…
The type of "price controls" that you are railing against do not exist in New York City and to the best of my knowledge have never existed there. Maybe during World War II.
Re: New York's Rent Regulation Fight
#6This is the problem with housing subsidies: they very often go to those who don't need them. In New York, your choice of apartment is primarily based on location -- anything that's not in the >$1 million range is pretty similar. So if you're looking at two apartments near your work and the rent stabilized one is $1200/mo and the other is $3000/mo, you try to get the $1200/mo one even if you could afford the $3000/mo…
Not necessarily disagreeing with you. But the practical meaning of that is that, in the case of New York, this means the entire island of Manhattan becomes a playground for the wealthy and the people who keep that playground humming are relegated to the outer boroughs.
Entire Manhattan, including 200th streets?
I can imagine that areas like this already exist, e.g. in most lower Manhattan and upper west side. Did it result in anything particularly bad, or at least measurably bad?
(Disclaimer: I live in Brooklyn and work on Manhattan; my commute is still better than in most other places I lived.)
Re: New York's Rent Regulation Fight
#7This is the problem with housing subsidies: they very often go to those who don't need them. In New York, your choice of apartment is primarily based on location -- anything that's not in the >$1 million range is pretty similar. So if you're looking at two apartments near your work and the rent stabilized one is $1200/mo and the other is $3000/mo, you try to get the $1200/mo one even if you could afford the $3000/mo…
Not necessarily disagreeing with you. But the practical meaning of that is that, in the case of New York, this means the entire island of Manhattan becomes a playground for the wealthy and the people who keep that playground humming are relegated to the outer boroughs.
[deleted]
Re: New York's Rent Regulation Fight
#8This is the problem with housing subsidies: they very often go to those who don't need them. In New York, your choice of apartment is primarily based on location -- anything that's not in the >$1 million range is pretty similar. So if you're looking at two apartments near your work and the rent stabilized one is $1200/mo and the other is $3000/mo, you try to get the $1200/mo one even if you could afford the $3000/mo…
Not necessarily disagreeing with you. But the practical meaning of that is that, in the case of New York, this means the entire island of Manhattan becomes a playground for the wealthy and the people who keep that playground humming are relegated to the outer boroughs.
That's kind of the entire point. The wealthy who use Manhattan as their playground today are just getting the public to subsidize housing for the people who keep their playground humming.
Manhattan is already far too expensive; I have a friend who commutes daily to Manhattan from Philadelphia because rents are 25% of what they are in Manhattan. It's only 90 minutes to Penn Station on the train, which is about the same time it would take from the affordable parts of Brooklyn or Queens.
Re: New York's Rent Regulation Fight
#9This is the problem with housing subsidies: they very often go to those who don't need them. In New York, your choice of apartment is primarily based on location -- anything that's not in the >$1 million range is pretty similar. So if you're looking at two apartments near your work and the rent stabilized one is $1200/mo and the other is $3000/mo, you try to get the $1200/mo one even if you could afford the $3000/mo…
The type of "price controls" that you are railing against do not exist in New York City and to the best of my knowledge have never existed there. Maybe during World War II.
I'm not sure what you are referring to, but New York definitely has two levels of rent pricing controls: rent control and rent stabilization.
With rent control, the rent never increases, it is fixed for the duration of tenancy, and can even be handed down (once) to a family member. Once that tenant or their heir vacates the apartment, then the rent goes to market rate with no further regulation.
With rent stabilization, the city sets an annual percentage increase for the rent, which is typically not as high as the market-rate appreciation rate. When a tenant moves out, the landlord can raise the rent by a vacancy allowance, as well as an adder of 1/40th of any improvements made to the unit. Once the annual rent exceeds $2,500 per month, the unit is considered market-rate, and becomes unregulated (however, regulation continues until the current tenant moves out).
SOURCE: I was a landlord in NYC. In my building, I had one rent-controlled unit occupied by a senior citizen who never paid rent (she needed the $100/mo more than I did), and 80% of the other units were rent-stabilized.
Re: New York's Rent Regulation Fight
#10Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not necessarily disagreeing with you. But the practical meaning of that is that, in the case of New York, this means the entire island of Manhattan becomes a playground for the wealthy and the people who keep that playground humming are relegated to the outer boroughs.
Entire Manhattan, including 200th streets? I can imagine that areas like this already exist, e.g. in most lower Manhattan and upper west side. Did it result in anything particularly bad, or at least measurably bad? (Disclaimer: I live in Brooklyn and work on Manhattan; my commute is still better than in most other places I lived.)
Eventually, yeah. There is a finite supply of land on Manhattan, and demand from foreign buyers is growing. Downtown and midtown are already saturated, so the billion dollar condo buildings of 2040 will need to be built somewhere.