NYC Evictions Up Nearly 200%, Study Finds Ahead Of Rent Increase Fight

NEW YORK CITY — New York City's long-beleaguered renters face growing burdens — including a nearly 200 percent increase in evictions — while their landlords are sitting relatively pretty, according to a pair of new studies.

Wages were down 6.1 percent, 13 percent of renters missed one or more payments and the number of New Yorkers needing help in city homeless shelters increased 9.5 percent, the Rent Guidelines Board study released Thursday found.

Advocates quickly seized on the study's findings — which covers 2023 — to press the board to impose a rent freeze for the city's 2 million tenants in rent-stabilized apartments.

"Tenants across New York City are at a breaking point and they cannot shoulder another rent increase," advocates with The Legal Aid Society said in a statement.

The study covering renters' income and affordability comes on the heels of another recent Rent Guidelines Board analysis that found landlords' net operating income increased 10.4 percent for buildings with rent-stabilized units between 2021 and 2022.

Some landlords have argued the study is already out-of-date — a contention that likely will be repeated in coming weeks as the Rent Guidelines Board's members engage in their annual debate over to raise rents in rent-stabilized apartments.

Last year, board members controversially imposed the biggest rent hike in years: 3.25 percent on one-year leases and 5 percent on two-year leases.

Both studies are likely to feature in the board's upcoming discussions, notably an April 25 public meeting with invited owner and tenant groups.

Advocates for tenants likely will have more ammunition from the study released Thursday, which found that New York City's cost of rental housing rose 965 percent over the 55 years of rent stabilization.

Rent rose 823 percent in the U.S. during this same period, according to the study.

Likewise, the study found residential evictions rose 195 percent in 2023.

The eviction figure, however, does reflect the end of a moratorium that banned landlords from throwing out tenants during the coronavirus pandemic.

Read the full study here.