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The Current NYC Housing Landscape | |
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< | In 2023, the median rent in Manhattan reached $4,200. In Brooklyn, it was $3,500. Multiply those numbers by twelve and one can more clearly see the problem. On average, it costs fifty thousand dollars just for housing in Manhattan. Moreover, the population of Manhattan has declined significantly in the last one hundred years, and it's not for lack of people's desire to live here. | >
> | In 2023, the median rent in Manhattan reached $4,200. In Brooklyn, it was $3,500. Thus, on average, it costs fifty thousand dollars a year just for housing in Manhattan. Moreover, the population of Manhattan has declined significantly in the last one hundred years, and it's not for lack of people's desire to live here. | | | Zoning Laws | |
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< | Manhattan zoning laws are complicated, and not based exclusively on heights or units. In Manhattan, at least, the amount that can be built is a function of the size of the property itself. The ratio between the total floor area of a building and the area of the plot of land is limited. For example, in an area with a maximum ratio of 6, a building that covers the entire plot can only consist of 6 stories. This ratio creates certain limitations in residential areas of Manhattan. In many areas of Brooklyn, the land is zoned as "R6" or "R6B." R6 areas have a typical maximum FAR of 2.43, and R6B? zones, which are in neighborhoods like Park Slope and Bed-Stuy, exist to "preserve neighborhood character," and have much more severe height regulations at 50 feet. While there are no overt restrictions on the number of units allowed, these zones seem to restrict the supply of housing by allowing only limited buildup. | >
> | In New York, the amount that can be built is a function of the size of the property itself. The ratio between the total floor area of a building and the area of the plot of land is limited. Without getting into too many technical details, the ratio determines the height and volume of a development on a plot of land and varies based on neighborhood. Areas like Morningside allow residential high-rises while areas like Bushwick allow less density, and neighborhoods like prospect park south are sometimes restricted only to single- or two-family dwellings | | | Rent Stabilization and Affordable Housing | | | Rezoning
A 2018 Minneapolis rezoning plan allowed for the building of duplexes and triplexes on land that was previously zoned for single-family homes and eliminated parking minimums. The number of units in Minneapolis since the rezoning (from 2017-2022) increased by 14%, while the number of units in Minnesota at large only increased by 4%. Homelessness increased by 14% in the state, while decreasing by 12% in the city. Rents increased by 1% in Minneapolis, and 14% in the state. While still an increase in rent, 1% over 5 years far underpaced the rate of inflation. While NYC bears little similarity to Minneapolis, the same principle could apply here. Rezoning lower-density areas as "R10," a zone that allows for tall apartment towers and higher floor-area-ratios, will allow the construction of far more units per plot of land. | |
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< | Opponents of this sort of rezoning draw apt comparisons to past "urban renewal" displacements. According to Village Preservation, an architectural and cultural preservation organization operating for more than a century, A SoHo rezoning plan approved in 2021 has not lived up to promises due to the replacement of rent-regulated buildings with market-rate buildings? . It may be easy to dismiss this sort of argument from a statistical perspective, but losing a rent-stabilized apartment is a massive loss to each individual affected. Moreover, | >
> | Tracing Historical and Political Opposition to Development
New York has an infamous history with broad-scale city planning changes. Robert Moses, an immensely powerful bureaucrat, enacted citywide urban renewal, road, and public housing programs, often displacing poor people and minorities in the process.
Opponents of this sort of rezoning draw apt comparisons to past "urban renewal" displacements. According to Village Preservation, an architectural and cultural preservation organization operating for more than 4 decades, A SoHo rezoning plan approved in 2021 did not live up to promises due to the replacement of rent-regulated buildings with market-rate buildings. It may be easy to dismiss this sort of argument from a statistical perspective, but losing a rent-stabilized apartment is a massive loss to each individual affected. Moreover, Village Preservation has pointed out that areas with the least amount of construction (and the most landmarking) have had the lowest increase in rents, whereas the areas with the most new construction have had the highest increase in rents. The Minneapolis data may be more on point, because there may be causal problems with assuming that places are more expensive because of development rather than the reverse. Regardless of the veracity of VP's analysis, however, the anti-rezoning viewpoint is politically salient and may cause trouble for any proposed rezoning plan. | | | Rent Stabilization | |
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< | Opponents of upzoning often invoke the possibility of developers buying buildings with rent-regulated units, replacing them with shiny new apartment towers that offer only market-rate housing. However, the status quo of restricted supply is unsustainable, and upzoning can occur counter to, or without, displacement. First, if swathes of the city were rezoned for R10, wealthier people and transplants may move into new market-rate units, and with a greater supply of market-rate units, it would lower the competition for units overall. Second, the city can allow affordable developments even higher than what the R10 limit allows, greatly expanding the number of affordable units allowable per plot. The 421-a tax exemption could be expanded to incentivize higher percentages of affordable housing, for longer, further expanding the availability of affordable units. For people in existing units, current regulation requires that those forced to move after a demolition get moving assistance and stipends. With a much higher number of affordable units available, the city could extend assistance after demolition, guaranteeing a similarly-priced unit in the same general neighborhood. Finally, this abundance of affordable and stabilized housing units could allow residents to find rent-stabilized units more easily. | >
> | Opponents of upzoning, including prominent urban critic Roberta Gratz, often invoke the possibility of developers buying buildings with rent-regulated units, replacing them with shiny new apartment towers that offer only market-rate housing. However, the status quo of restricted supply is unsustainable, and upzoning can occur counter to, or without, displacement. First, if swathes of the city were rezoned for R10, wealthier people and transplants may move into new market-rate units, and with a greater supply of market-rate units, it would lower the competition for units overall. Second, the city can allow affordable developments even higher than what the R10 limit allows, greatly expanding the number of affordable units allowable per plot. The 421-a tax exemption could be expanded to incentivize higher percentages of affordable housing, for longer, further expanding the availability of affordable units. For people in existing units, current regulation requires that those forced to move after a demolition get moving assistance and stipends. With a much higher number of affordable units available, the city could extend assistance after demolition, guaranteeing a similarly-priced unit in the same general neighborhood. Finally, this abundance of affordable and stabilized housing units could allow residents to find rent-stabilized units more easily. | | | These ideas may have a hard time getting past the legislature or city council, and there may be economic ramifications that I am currently oblivious to, but the current system is unsustainable. New York is the greatest city in the world, and its membership shouldn't be artificially restricted. |
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