SOARING RENTS & EVICTIONS TRIGGER CONCERNS
A recent Douglas Elliman and Miller Samuel report has dire news for New York City renters. The January 2023 report revealed a 25% median rental price increase in Brooklyn, (a whopping 17.1% higher than pre-pandemic levels), with Manhattan prices trailing slightly behind at 15.4%, (a 14% increase from pre-pandemic levels). New York City has continued to experience low-vacancy rates and record-breaking upticks in rental prices, leaving tenants with dwindling housing options.
And sadly, at the same time, New York City eviction rates have soared to new heights, resulting in unparalleled levels of homelessness. Upon the expiration of the National Eviction Moratorium, the millions who were able to remain in their households during the pandemic’s height are now at risk of displacement. Many states – including New York -- have also pulled their local eviction moratoriums and rent relief programs, (such as New York’s Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP)).
The rise in eviction rates has reached crisis levels. For example, only 26 evictions were reported, citywide, in the final two weeks of January 2022, a meager number compared to the 350 evictions reported, for that same period, in January 2023. On a larger scale, the Eviction Lab in Princeton reports that across the nine states that it has monitored, there were some 9,300 evictions in the first week of January, alone.
Judith Goldiner, an attorney at the Legal Aid Society, voiced her concerns in a recent Gothamist interview, and noted that, “We’re already in a situation where the homeless crisis is pretty overwhelming…. Any evictions add to that crisis, and any eviction is an unbelievable tragedy for the family going through it.”
To secure updates on the eviction stats for your area, visit https://evictionlab.org/eviction-tracking/.
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SOURCES:
https://millersamuel.com/files/2023/02/Rental-01_2023.pdf