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0 pointsbusterarm6y ago0 comments

The rent control laws in NYC aren't even nearly as bad as SF, despite how much they get demonized here on HN.

In NYC units that might be _actually cheap_, as in rent controlled and not stabilized, number roughly 17k units _in total_. And only about 1/3 of those are significantly below market or in desirable neighborhoods. It's almost insignificant and the number of rent controlled units has gone down by roughly HALF in the last 5 years, because the tenants in them are dying and income limits on any descendants usually kick the units out of being controlled into stabilized.

NYC has a much larger number of rent stabilized units, which is somewhere near 1/3 of all available units that are renting at or below $2700 (twice the national average, btw). The overwhelming majority of these are within a few hundred dollars of market rate.

There are about 4.2M housing units in NYC with roughly 30k being added every year. The "cheap" rent-controlled units are a rounding error.

That is not anything like the situation folks in SF are rightfully railing against.

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heyoni6y ago

I think rent stabilized apartments can go a lot higher than $2700. Lots of luxury buildings are taking tax abatements in exchange for rent stabilization and setting aside a number of rent controlled units.

busterarmOP6y ago

Nope. Units deregulate at $2700. Also there's no such thing as new rent controlled or rent stabilized units since 1970.

There's other housing programs like Mitchell-Lama, some that are like what you mentioned, but that's a completely separate thing and a small amount of units. "Rent controlled" and "Rent stabilized" are technical terms in NY.

bardam6y ago

Your information is correct in general, but there are many exceptions that prove the grandparent correct. My apartment was built in the last 10 years (i.e., after 1970), rents for close to $4k, and IS rent stabilized. See information here:

https://www1.nyc.gov/site/rentguidelinesboard/resources/rent...

Specifically:

"Also, some newly constructed buildings may be stabilized due to a 421-a or J-51 tax exemption even if the rent is $2,000 or more."

A program that a significant number of developers have taken advantage of.

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nicwolff6y ago

NY State repealed high-rent deregulation in the Housing Stability and Tenant Protection act of 2019. https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/bills/2019/s6458

jcranberry6y ago

I live in a rent stabilized apartment in NYC and my rent is 3400.

irq116y ago

The rent control laws in SF aren’t even as bad as HN comments would have you believe.

Rent control doesn’t apply to new construction in SF. It also allows a regulated annual increase, and rent automatically jumps back up to market upon a number of different conditions - not the least of which is that the owner can push you out to renovate the building!

HN commenters are usually just repeating stuff they heard somewhere, and have no idea what the laws actually say.

Moreover, while there are indeed lots of publications on the theoretical impacts of rent control, few of those publications consider laws as they actually exist, or if they do, the scope of the impacts is rarely communicated when translated into HN talking points. Every study I’m aware of has shown, at worst, diffuse, long-term negative impacts to housing costs. Meanwhile, many of them do exactly what they set out to do: stabilize short-term prices for vulnerable populations.

These laws are simply not the boogeymen that comments here make them seem.

refurb6y ago

Rent control in SF really is that bad. Rent increase limits are 60% of CPI, so it can’t even match inflation. If your costs go up (utilities) or you want to do capital improvements, good luck getting the rent board to approve a pass through. Want to prevent other people than the tenant from moving into a 1 bedroom? Tough, can’t say no to that, it just has to be under 3 people. Want to move into your own house? Sure, just pay the tenant a few tens of thousands in “pay off”.

SF rent control is absolutely onerous and definitely shrinks the pool of potential landlords and thus potential units.

toastal6y ago

Why should I care about the woes of landlords as opposed to renters?

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ryan_lane6y ago

A lot of what you're saying in here is blatantly incorrect or misleading. Water is frequently covered in utilities, but other utilities generally are not. Leases are very specific on the number of people in a unit for rent controlled apartments and is one the few things a tenant can be evicted for. The board frequently approves pass throughs. Increases tend to be higher than inflation.

If you lease out your house and you want to take back ownership, yeah, you need to pay out the tenant and that's completely fair. You're upending another family's lives, and they may not be able to afford to stay. You're paying them moving costs and covering a period of time of adjustment for them. If you think this is unfair, you have poor morals.

Also, for good measure: fuck the landlords.

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thatfrenchguy6y ago

... But Prop 13 guarentees every landlord in the state that they won’t have to pay their share, and they get it even on >1980 construction, unlike rent control.

It seems fair to me that if you’re going to protect landlords (and companies !) you need to protect tenants as well.

bobcostas556y ago

>Rent control doesn’t apply to new construction in SF.

Conveniently, SF doesn't allow new construction either.

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