New York University’s Furman Center held a panel Wednesday morning on the city’s rent-stabilized housing stock.
At one point, Samuel Stein, a senior policy analyst at the Community Service Society, made a somewhat radical suggestion: Given the need in rent-stabilized buildings, if landlords don’t participate in well-designed city programs designed to help them, perhaps someone else should take over.
Then suddenly the lights went out.
“The specter of state ownership!” Stein joked.
It’s an interesting time for rent-stabilized housing. Zohran Mamdani’s successful mayoral campaign has contributed to a sense of left-wing momentum as distress in the sector increases and buildings sell for a fraction of their peak prices. Could these circumstances give rise to a takeover of buildings by the government or non-profit organizations?
Some progressives think so. Mamdani has recently cooled his anti-landlord rhetoric, but the advocates who may be listening to him still have bold ideas about the future of New York’s housing stock.
Stein acknowledges that the need in rent-stabilized buildings is a real problem. Government programs can provide relief, he said, but not if they are poorly designed, like the city’s Unlocking Doors program. (Gothamist reported that not one landlord participated in the program.)
But even if the programs are well designed, many landlords may simply not want to work with the government, Stein said. Or they may be more focused on ways to achieve higher rents, which will increase property values.
And if landlords aren’t interested in what the city has to offer, maybe it’s time for tenants, community land trusts or the city itself to take over, he said.
“If they’re not interested in doing the right thing, we’ll move to alternative ownership,” Stein said in an interview.
Cea Weaver, director of Housing Justice for All, has a similar view. Write for Phenomenal world A few weeks ago, Weaver envisioned the city could buy buildings, now at fire sale prices, from owners looking to sell. It could then lease out the ability to collect rents and, with a large enough portfolio, cross-subsidize between higher and lower income buildings.
Ideological concerns aside, experts and advocates I spoke with had some concerns about these plans. For example, they would be expensive, not to mention that the city is bad at managing things, they said. Furthermore, a change of ownership would not inherently solve the problem of economic distress in these buildings. Income (i.e. rent) should still increase.
Stein accepts this last point, but says these models also have other benefits, such as increased trust and more democratic control over tenants’ living conditions.
Yet, despite the rise of the city’s left wing, many politicians would not agree to this level of intervention.
“I don’t see any need for a fundamental change in the ownership structure of these buildings,” said Senator Brian Kavanagh when I asked him about Stein’s ideas.
But some are taking small steps in that direction. A City Council committee is considering the COPA bill, which, as written, would delay building sales by several months to give nonprofits an initial purchasing opportunity.
“There’s a lot of excitement, a lot of organizing,” Stein said of this political moment. “There is a lot of hair pulling among the landlord class.”
What we’re thinking about: Three Senate committees are investigating why home insurance costs have skyrocketed. Do you have an idea why premiums are increasing? Have rising insurance costs devastated your finances? Send me a message at lilah.burke@therealdeal.com.
Something we learned: The median household income among renters of Veris Realty properties is $480,000, as Jay Parsons noted and posted on X/Twitter this morning.
Elsewhere:
– Mamdani met with President Trump in the Oval Office today. The two struck a positive tone. “I have every confidence that he can do a very good job,” Trump said of Mamdani, adding that the two agree on more than he thought.
– Nydia Velazquez, the 16-year-old, 72-year-old state representative, said she will not run for re-election in 2026. That opens up a seat in New York’s seventh congressional district, which runs through many Mamdani strongholds, including Williamsburg, Greenpoint, Bushwick, Ridgewood, Long Island City and the mayor-elect’s own Astoria.
– One man single-handedly delayed 755 subway trains in October by pulling copper wiring from the tracks at 149th Street-Grand Concourse, Gothamist reported.
Closing time:
Residential: The highest residential deal recorded on Friday was $21 million for 111 West 57th Street, Unit 58. The Midtown Central apartment is 4,200 square feet. Sotheby’s International Realties Nikki Field and Benjamin Pofcher are credited.
Commercial: The best recorded commercial deal was $18.03 million for 212 Lafayette Street. The Soho rental unit is five stories, has 16 units and is 8,800 square feet.
New on the market: The highest price for a home to hit the market was $26.9 million for 133 East 73rd Street, Unit PH. The Lenox Hill apartment is 6,700 square feet. From the Modlin group Adam Modlin and Andrew Nierenberg have the entry.
— Joseph Jungerman
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