East Bed-Stuy Has Most Vacant Apartments In BK, Despite Decline

BED-STUY, BROOKLYN — The percentage of vacant Bed-Stuy apartments may have decreased by nearly a third in the last decade, but the neighborhood is still among those with the most empty units across the city, according to new census data.

No Brooklyn neighborhood had more vacant apartments in 2020 than Eastern Bed-Stuy, where 3,043 units stood empty, according to the 2020 U.S. Census. The Western section of the neighborhood was not far behind with 2,636 empty units, a number only beaten in Brooklyn by the eastern portion of Bed-Stuy, North Crown Heights and Williamsburg.

The figures correspond to what are known as Neighborhood Tabulation Areas, or medium-size population areas that roughly line up with a given ZIP code. Eastern Bed-Stuy extends roughly from Saratoga Avenue to Throop Avenue and the western portion extends from Throop Avenue to, roughly, Classon Avenue.

Both parts of Bed-Stuy fell in the top 20 neighborhoods across the five boroughs in terms of vacant units.

Those high numbers are despite a more than 1,600-unit drop in empty apartments in the last decade.

In 2010, 7,331 of both east and west Bed-Stuy's 65,189 apartments stood empty, giving it a staggering vacancy rate of 11.2 percent, data shows.

Despite an increase in the overall housing stock, that vacancy rate dropped to just below 8 percent in 2020, when 5,679 of the neighborhood's 72,623 apartments were vacant, data shows.

Experts also estimate that the number of vacant units across the city has likely gone down since the 2020 count given the market's ongoing recovery from the coronavirus crisis.

Overall, Bed-Stuy's total housing stock increased by more than 7,400 units between 2010 and 2020.

Brooklyn as a whole saw the biggest increase in housing units of any borough, with more than 77,300 new units added between 2010 and 2020, according to the data. Across the city, there were 247,573 new units added over the decade.

Though Brooklyn had the largest absolute increase, Manhattan's housing stock grew the most rapidly, with a 7.9 percent increase in its housing stock between 2010 and 2020, according to the data.

Manhattan by far dominated the neighborhoods with the most vacant units, too. The top 13 neighborhoods in terms of empty apartments were all in the borough, data shows.

Here's a look at the overall data for Bed-Stuy:

Bed-Stuy (East):

• 2010
  • Total housing units: 33,740
  • Occupied housing units: 29,859
  • Vacant housing units: 3,881
• 2020
• Total housing units: 36,783
• Occupied housing units: 33,740
• Vacant housing units: 3,043

Bed-Stuy (West)

• 2010
• Total housing units: 31,449
• Occupied housing units: 27,999
• Vacant housing units, 3,450
• 2020
  • Total housing units: 35,840
  • Occupied housing units: 33,204
  • Vacant housing units: 2,636

Find more data from the census here.

This is the part of a series of articles breaking down insights from the 2020 Census in Bed-Stuy. To stay on top of future installments, subscribe to Bed-Stuy Patch.

Read More:

• Bed-Stuy Lost 22K Black Residents, Gained 30K Whites This Decade