The New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) on Monday released the initial results of the 2017 New York City Housing and Vacancy Survey (NYCHVS), which makes the case for continued rent regulation.
The 2017 survey found that while an estimated 69,000 units have been added to the housing stock, making it the largest housing stock on record in the city, the citywide net rental vacancy rate is 3.63%, well below the 5% mark that triggers the declaration of a “housing emergency.”
“The HVS findings confirm that while we are finally seeing incomes rising more than rents, the city is still facing a dire affordability crisis,” said HPD commissioner Maria Torres-Springer in a statement. “That is why we must continue to aggressively build and preserve more affordable homes while also pushing to strengthen rent stabilization laws, so critical to protecting low-cost housing.”
“This survey shows how critical it is to preserve the affordable housing we have while continuing to add new units to the city’s housing supply. Later this month, the Council will be passing legislation to extend rent regulation laws that protect over a million families, and I look forward to working with the administration and the state legislature to close loopholes that have resulted in the loss of affordable housing,” said New York City Council Speaker Corey Johnson.
Since 1965, the NYC-HVS has been used to measure the rental vacancy rate and housing stock for the five boroughs of New York City. Every survey since the first has found the rental vacancy rate to be below 5%.
Key takeaways from the survey:
- New York City currently has the largest housing stock in New York City's history: An estimated 69,000 units were added between 2014 and 2017.
- New York City is in a state of housing emergency: The vacancy rate is 3.63%. The threshold for a housing emergency is 5%, indicating continued pressure in the housing market and, thus, continued need for rent stabilization. The vacancy rate of lower-cost housing is extremely low—for-rent stabilized housing, the vacancy rate is about 2%, and in deeply subsidized units, such as public housing or developments with project-based rental assistance, the vacancy rate is less than 1%.
- Rent-stabilized tenants benefit from low rent growth: While private unregulated rents increased by 9.3%, several years of lower rent stabilization annually and two-year increases issued by the Rent Guidelines Board (RGB) tempered rent growth in the rent-stabilized stock, where rents only grew 2.6%.
- Incomes have gone up more than rents: The incomes of all renters grew by 11.2% while gross rents grew 6.2%.
- Housing quality is high and improving: The number of renter-occupied units with no maintenance deficiencies increased from 41% of the stock to 52% of the stock, and the number of renter-occupied units with no heating breakdowns increased from 83% to 87%.
- Neighborhood conditions improved since 2014 and are at an all-time high: 76% call their neighborhood conditions “good or excellent” compared with 2011, when 70% called their neighborhood conditions good or excellent.
To address the city’s growing affordability crisis, the administration recently accelerated and expanded the Housing New York plan to build or preserve 200,000 affordable homes two years ahead of schedule, by 2022, and to reach a new goal of 300,000 homes by 2026. The mayor also committed an additional $1.9 billion in capital funds to achieve deeper affordability over the life of the plan. The city has financed 87,557 affordable apartments in the past four years, one-third of which serve families making less than $43,000 for a family of three.
While the survey confirms the need for this approach, it also demonstrates the importance of protecting the rent-stabilized stock, which remains the largest stock of low-cost housing and generally serves lower-income tenants. The administration will continue to advocate for significant reforms to rent laws to retain the rent stabilized stock, preserve low-rent units, ensure current tenants are secure in their homes, and protect the benefits of rent stabilization for future tenants.
The survey is required by state and city rent-regulation laws to determine New York City’s overall vacancy rate for rental housing. It is conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau at the request of the city of New York every three years. The sample of about 19,000 housing units was drawn from the 2010 decennial census conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau and updated by HPD to include new construction, renovation, and conversion.
The findings were submitted to the city council by HPD on Feb. 9, and a hearing will be held on the extension of local rent regulation on March 19. The city’s rent-stabilization local enabling law expires on April 1. Before that date, the city council must codify the housing emergency in order to extend the law.
