- More than 400,000 New Yorkers live in public housing.
- In addition, 85,000 families get Section 8 vouchers which limit the rent they pay to a maximum of 40% of income.
- While only about 1% of rental units are rent controlled, nearly half the city’s rental housing (home to 2.4 million New Yorkers) is rent stabilized, which limits annual rent increases to a fixed percentage set by the city (currently 1.5%). Because rent-regulated, below-market housing is such a valuable perk, people don’t give up their rent-regulated apartments readily, making it very difficult for newcomers to find.
- Rents are lower in low-income areas like Washington Heights and the South Bronx that many newcomers would find undesirable due to high crime rates, poor housing stock, lack of neighborhood amenities, inconvenient commuting times to major employment centers, etc.
- Many New Yorkers live in owner-occupied housing that they (or their parents or grandparents) acquired before real estate prices went crazy.
I think the COL calculators assume that if you move to NYC you’re going to need to find market-rate housing. If so, it’s going to cost you.