Housing Crisis Looms As 1 In 4 NYC Tenants Can't Pay Rent: Report

NEW YORK CITY – The New York City housing market is in crisis as tenants are unable to pay their rent due to the coronavirus pandemic, according to a new report from Bloomberg Businessweek.

A quarter of the city's renters have not paid rent since March, the report said, citing information from the Community Housing Improvement Program, which represents landlords of rent-stabilized buildings.

As renters fail to pay, landlords are lacking funds to pay their own bills, so the city could see hundreds of millions of dollars in delinquent property tax payments, according to the Bloomberg report.

More than 735,000 households in New York City have lost income due to the pandemic, according to the Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy. An estimated 526,000 of these households filed for unemployment insurance and one in four households now face eviction, according to the center.

In March, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo issued a 90-day moratorium on evictions for renters who failed to pay rent due to hardship as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. In May, he extended the eviction suspension until Aug. 20 for renters who can prove financial hardship due to the pandemic. For those who could not prove financial hardship due to the pandemic, the eviction suspension lifted June 20, with 50,000 eviction cases expected to be filed.

On June 30, the state enacted the Tenant Safe Harbor Act, which protects tenants from eviction beyond the Aug. 20 eviction moratorium end date. This act applies to any unpaid rent accrued between March 7 and the yet-to-be-determined date on which all COVID-related restrictions on non-essential gatherings and businesses are lifted.

Also in June, the Rent Guidelines Board announced that rents will freeze for roughly 2 million New Yorkers with rent-regulated apartments for the next year to help ease the financial burden of the novel coronavirus pandemic.

For renters who have been able to stay current on their payments thanks to the $600 weekly addition to unemployment benefits, the extra support is set to expire at the end of July, forcing them to face a future without the ability to pay, the report said.

Beyond having tenants who are unable to pay, landlords are also facing difficulty replacing those that are leaving for the more affordable suburbs or move in with family or friends, according to the report.

Related:

• New York Eviction Moratorium Extends Until August, Cuomo Says
• NYC Prepares For Mass Evictions As Moratorium's End Nears
• NYC Freezes Rents For Regulated Apartments Amid Coronavirus
• NYC Renters Protest Housing Court Reopening Amid Coronavirus