“On one of their units, the Lulgjurajs are able to charge monthly market-rate rents of $2,600. For an identical unit that became vacant in 2019 after a long-term tenancy, they can only charge $710 per month.
The costs of legally mandated repairs to that unit—which would include replacing the kitchen and bathroom, performing lead abatement, and leveling the floors—exceed $100,000. Yet the 2019 law permits them to reclaim less than half of these costs, let alone raise rents to something approximating market rates.
Without the ability to recover the costs of legally mandated repairs, the unit currently sits empty.
In addition to alleging a taking, the property owners’ lawsuit also argues that the wildly different rents allowed on units, dependent solely on how old the unit is and when it became vacant, is arbitrary and irrational.”
“Freezing the rent: Mamdani’s signature campaign promise was to freeze the rent for more than 2 million tenants living in rent-controlled housing. But the city’s cost of living has grown unabated despite decades of rent control—which, coupled with restrictive zoning, has made the city’s housing shortage worse.
$30 minimum wage: There’s good reason for New Yorkers to be skeptical of Mamdani’s plan to raise the minimum wage. When the city raised the minimum wage to $15 an hour in 2018, the predictable result was increased unemployment and black markets in labor. Nearly doubling the current minimum wage of $16.50 by 2030 would produce similar consequences.
“Free” buses: On the campaign trail, Mamdani promised to eliminate the fare on every city bus to make them “fast” and “free.” The plan would cost taxpayers $600 million–$800 million annually and likely result in slower speeds, which is what happened when the city piloted five fare-free bus lines in 2023 and 2024.
Government-run grocery stores: Mamdani has proposed not-for-profit, government-run grocery stores—subsidized to the tune of $140 million a year—to reduce prices at the checkout counter. New York’s grocery stores, like others across the country, operate on razor-thin margins. The profit motive isn’t to blame for high grocery prices; inflation and supply chain disruptions are.
…
$5 billion corporate tax: Naturally, Mamdani promises that you won’t pay for his multi-billion dollar programs—greedy corporations will! If Mamdani manages to convince state lawmakers to increase the city’s corporate tax rate from 7.5 percent to 11.5 percent, New Yorkers should expect companies to reduce salaries, benefits, and headcount to remain in business. Some might opt to abandon the city altogether, leaving the taxpayers of the People’s Republic of New York to foot the bill for their socialist utopia.”
“The city has the nation’s most regulated housing sector and the largest stock of government-owned and subsidized housing, and yet progressives blame its real estate troubles on the free market.
…
These buildings are falling apart, with an estimated $78 billion repair backlog, including “non-functioning smoke detectors, antiquated electrical components, damaged interiors, missing child guards…deteriorated roofs, deteriorated pumps, and leaking pipes,” according to a recent report. The system for making repairs in New York public housing is rife with corruption. Heat and hot water service are routinely interrupted. The elevators, which are crucial in multistory buildings housing elderly residents, are constantly breaking down.
When public housing was created, it was assumed that the residents would be two-income, working families whose rents would cover upkeep. That plan failed as stable families opted for home-ownership. Today, only 2 percent of New York public housing households include two adults with children, and just a third of households report income from wages.
The perverse incentives of public housing help explain why the city is perennially plagued by shortages. According to data from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), fully 30 percent of the city’s public housing residents are “overhoused,” meaning single adults are living in 3- or 4-bedroom apartments. About 10 percent of residents have lived in their units for more than 40 years.
This problem also applies to rent-regulated units: Artificially cheap rents mean tenants don’t vacate after their kids grow up and move out, leading to inefficient use of a limited stock.
…
The “affordable housing” program championed by Mamdani will likely take the form of new private apartment buildings setting aside units for lower-income families, whose rents are subsidized by the federal government. These programs require developers to navigate extensive red tape, which adds cost and slows housing production. The system allocates units via lottery, so it’s based on luck.
Similarly, rent-regulated units in Manhattan go to tenants lucky enough to get them, or, in some cases, inherit them from their parents or grandparents. Since New York lawmakers have made it so hard to evict tenants for nonpayment of rent, landlords are incentivized to pick high-earners to inhabit this scarce resource.
As mayor, Mamdani would select the members of the Rent Guidelines Board, which sets price increases on nearly 1 million apartments. According to Census data, turnover in rent-regulated units is half that of market-rate units, which is one of the reasons the city’s overall turnover is 46 percent lower than the national average.
…
thanks to a 2019 law that made New York’s rent regulation laws far more stringent. Some 200,000 rent-regulated apartments, many in need of ongoing maintenance, don’t generate enough income to cover basic operating expenses, according to Mark Willis of New York University’s Furman Center. He also noted that “such rent shortfalls are likely to continue to grow over time, potentially exponentially, jeopardizing the long-run economic sustainability of these properties.””
“Rental prices in some of the country’s largest cities are falling—some by almost 45 percent, according to new data from Five Star Cash Offer, a real estate investment firm that operates as a direct cash homebuyer. The dataset, which includes the top 65 metropolitan areas in the United States, reveals that cities that have recently enacted pro-housing policies have experienced the most significant year-over-year decline in rental prices nationwide.”
“A building boom in Austin, Texas has paid off big for renters.
There, residents’ rents have tumbled 22% from their peak in the summer of 2023, Bloomberg reported. The formerly low-cost city took on a new reputation in 2021 as a prohibitively pricey locale, as companies and young workers flocked to the Lone Star State’s capital. Heavy investment in development and ambitious housing policies, however, have flipped the script between renters and landlords.
Nearly all apartments in Austin are doing some sort of special for move-ins, one agent told Bloomberg.”
“The relief comes after a construction boom added tens of thousands of new units to the metro area last year alone, largely in its urban core. Builders rushed to Denver to meet demand from a population boom before and during the pandemic and are now completing them as growth has slowed.
“Everybody that wanted to move here because of remote work has moved here,” said Brian Sanchez, chief executive officer of Denver Apartment Finders, a locator service. “The demand is not keeping up with the supply.”
Between 2010 and 2020, the Denver region grew by more than 16% to nearly 3 million people. Since 2020, its growth has slowed to about 1% annually.
Rents for apartments of up to two bedrooms in the Denver metro area dropped 5.9% last year, according to Realtor.com. That’s a faster decrease than several other onetime hotspots for pandemic-era migration and construction, like Austin and Nashville. There, rents fell 5% and 4.4%, respectively in 2024.”
“The biggest housing issue on the California ballot was rent control. Proposition 33 would have repealed all state-level limits on local rent control policies, thus giving cities and counties a free hand to regulate rents however they pleased.
The measure went down in flames on Election Day, with roughly 60 percent of voters casting a “no” ballot.
That result is good news for the availability of rental housing in California, given rent control’s well-documented history of reducing rental housing supply and quality.
It is nevertheless a somewhat surprising result. California has a much higher proportion of renters than most other states and polls consistently find that rent control is supported by a wide majority of respondents. Dozens of cities already have rent control policies on the books.”
…
“Prop. 36 asked California voters if they wanted to increase legal penalties for certain drug and theft crimes. With roughly 70 percent of ballots counted, some 70 percent of voters said yes they do. Prop. 36 has earned majority support in every single county in the state.”