Why New York City Has 50,000 'Ghost Apartments'

"Not long after Covid ended, a tenant in one of my Manhattan buildings died. He was an elderly Italian immigrant who lived alone in a small studio near Gramercy for decades. These things happen in the normal course of life, and there's always a story: Sometimes people die, get married or divorced, or decide that the big city isn't for them."

"Strict limits on rent increases under the 2019 laws have left an estimated 50,000 apartments like this one vacant across the city. Because the restrictions on what landlords can charge for these apartments often don't even cover the costs of maintaining them, they become ghosts. It's like they don't exist at all. Incoming New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani promised during his campaign to " immediately freeze the rent " for rent-stabilized apartments, but those rents have essentially been frozen since 2019."

An elderly tenant in a rent-stabilized Manhattan studio died, leaving a long-occupied unit that requires costly renovations. Laws passed in 2019 cap rent increases and restrict landlord actions on stabilized units, leaving an estimated 50,000 apartments vacant citywide. The capped rents often fail to cover maintenance and renovation expenses, prompting owners to keep units empty rather than invest in repairs. Incoming mayoral promises to freeze rent echo an effective freeze already imposed by the 2019 rules. Rent regulation aimed to prevent displacement, but the financial disincentives have produced uninhabited, deteriorating housing stock.

Read at Thefp