Why rent control in NYC could become the new abortionBy David Christopher Kaufman
August 12, 2023
A nondescript studio in a nondescript rental building speaks volumes about the state of New York’s rent regulation laws in 2023. Located in Murray Hill, the apartment had been occupied by the same European immigrant since the early 1970s. Rent stabilized for decades, the tenant’s rent had gradually risen from $300 in 1984 to $890 by the time he died in April 2021 from COVID.
More than two years later, the apartment remains empty. Despite Manhattan rental prices reaching record highs — and thousands of migrants scrambling for shelter — the landlord won’t spend the thousands of dollars needed to make the unit habitable.
New housing laws enacted in 2019 restrict the amount landlords can recoup from renovating rent-regulated apartments — even if the previous tenant had been there for half a century. So the studio is one of an estimated 40,000 “ghost apartments” across New York — left empty by landlords amid one of the city’s tightest housing markets.
Few rights are more sacred — or contested — than New York City’s approximately 1 million rent-controlled and stabilized apartments. But what if city housing covenants were not only found to be unreasonable — but unconstitutional by the US Supreme Court?
That’s the scenario landlords are eyeing as they’ve backed a series of lawsuits intended to place the fate of rent regulations before the highest court in the land. Now, after inching their way past lower judges, the Supreme Court could decide as early as this fall whether they’ll take on a case to end rent stabilization in New York.
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Source:
https://nypost.com/2023/08/12/rent-control-in-nyc-could-become-the-new-abortion/
