NYC Rental Market Pushed to Breaking Point

Two-thirds of New Yorkers rent their homes, making it America’s biggest rental market. But with unemployment soaring and the typical rent about twice the national average, the numbers no longer add up. A quarter of the city’s apartment renters haven’t paid since March, according to the Community Housing Improvement Program (CHIP) Some landlords, with their own bills to pay, are running out of savings, so the city is bracing for hundreds of millions of dollars in delinquent property tax payments. A new state law prohibits evictions of tenants who face financial hardships while any social-distancing rules are in effect. For now, tenants who want to stay put but can no longer afford their rent are trying to negotiate payment plans The temporary $600 weekly boost to unemployment benefits is set to expire at the end of July, unless Congress intervenes to extend it. That means many tenants who’ve managed to stay current on their rent payments will no longer be able to. The federal government rushed in to protect the mortgage market after lockdowns and other measures to contain to spread of the virus pushed unemployment to Great Depression-era levels starting in March. But despite some proposals from Democrats in Congress, there’s still no rescue plan for renters. Unless rent revenue rebounds, the only buyers with enough money to wait for New York’s economy to recover are private equity firms