A new report by New York City Comptroller Brad Lander found the number of rent stabilized units vacant and unavailable for rent fell by 39% over the past two years. The report estimates that fewer than 2,000 low-rent, rent stabilized units are sitting vacant because of landlords’ inability to make repairs.
Landlord-backed groups have argued the Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act (HSTPA) of 2019 rendered it economically inefficient to renovate rent stabilized units for re-rental, according to a news release.
The city Comptroller’s office analyzed data from sources, including the recently released 2023 Housing and Vacancy Survey (HVS), to assess the changes in conditions and composition of rental housing supply before and after the passage of HSTPA five years ago.
“The number of rent-stabilized units that are vacant and not available to rent, due to landlords’ inability to make repairs or for any other reason, fell significantly from 2021 to 2023,” said Comptroller Brad Lander. “Our report found no evidence that the HSTPA led to an increase in vacant or distressed units in the city’s rent stabilized housing stock. There is simply no evidence for landlord claims that the HSTPA should be rolled back, or vacancy decontrol restored in any form.”
The COVID-19 pandemic caused a significant one-year bump in rental vacancies from 2020 to 2021. However, the rate of vacant units plunged since the pandemic; rent-stabilities units declined from 4.57% in 2021 to 0.98% in 2023. For rent-stabilized buildings, the rate of sales and the value per unit recovered from the pandemic dip in 2020, and both returned to levels similar to those before the passage of the HSTPA in 2019.
The number of rent stabilized units in NYC that are vacant but not available for rent for any reason declined from 42,860 in 2021 to 26,310 in 2023. While the number of rent stabilized units deemed dilapidated or otherwise uninhabitable declined from 11,500 in 2021 to just over 3,000 units in 2023.
This report found no evidence that the HSTPA led to an increase in vacant or distressed units in the city’s rent stabilized housing.
“For the small number of rent stabilized units that have been held off the market, a modest increase in the Individual Apartment Improvement (IAI) cap, along with narrowly targeted strategies for buildings facing genuine hardships, will get units back online, while ensuring tenants remain protected,” Lander said.
To ensure that rent-stabilized buildings can receive the repairs they need to place rent-stabilized units back online, while ensuring tenants remain protected, the Comptroller’s office recommends three targeted strategies. First, the state Legislature should raise the cap on IAI increases from $15,000 to $25,000 and peg it to inflation moving forward.
The New York State Homes and Community Renewal (HCR)’s existing program should be modified to address genuine cases of landlord hardships, including capital subsidies, rental vouchers and preservation loans where appropriate.
Finally, the mayor and City Council should include funding in New York City’s Fiscal Year 2025 budget for the “Neighborhood Pillars” program, to transition distressed privately owned housing into community ownership, make any necessary building repairs, and preserve the affordability for the long term, Lander said.
