June 2019
New York State’s population is aging and growing more diverse. The number of New Yorkers ages 65 and over increased 26% over the last decade. Nearly one third (31%) of U.S.-born older New Yorkers are non-White, a 26% increase from 10 years ago, while the number of older immigrants increased 41%. Given these demographic changes, it is important to understand how New York’s aging racial and ethnic minorities fare in important arenas, such as housing. This fact brief highlights the racial and ethnic disparities in rent-regulated housing for 50-plus New Yorkers and provides policy recommendations to address various housing issues.
New York’s current rent regulation laws expired June 15th. How the New York State Assembly votes on proposed bills could have dramatic implications for New York’s housing market and the state’s residents, particularly for ethnic and racial minorities age 50-plus.
Rent regulations are laws that maintain affordable housing, and they encompass both rent control and rent stabilization. Rent control is the older form of rent regulation and today applies to only a small (and shrinking) number of units. The current and most widespread form is rent stabilization. It limits annual rent increases for certain residential units: most buildings of six or more units built before 1974, or buildings that elect to participate in the program in exchange for public subsidies. Rent stabilization protects tenants from significant rent increases, obligates landlords to provide services (e.g., basic maintenance and repairs), and restricts the conditions under which tenants can be evicted. In effect, rent-stabilized tenants have a perpetual lease, as long as they do not violate the terms of that lease.
Rent stabilization currently applies only to rental units in New York City and Nassau, Westchester, and Rockland counties, despite the need for affordable and secure rental housing across the state.
The supply of rent-stabilized housing has decreased over the past several decades. Since 1994, New York City has lost approximately 142,868 rent-stabilized units. In 2018, High-Rent Vacancy Deregulation comprised the largest category of subtractions from stabilized housing stock, accounting for 62% of the losses. When a unit’s legal rent is just under $2,775, the owner can remove it from rent stabilization. Given how high market rents are in many neighborhoods, most landlords are eager to deregulate their units.
Reducing the rent-regulated housing stock affects all New Yorkers, but it causes the most harmful impacts for New York’s 50-plus racial and ethnic minority populations (African American/Black, Hispanic/Latino, and Asian American and Pacific Islander). They comprise the majority of tenants residing in rent-stabilized housing units.
