The New Yorkers in crisis over skyrocketing rents

This is how Shea Long, a software developer, found himself able to live without roommates by the time he turned 30. He moved into a one-bedroom in midtown Manhattan early last year, and paid $2,150 per month rent. He was aware he was getting a deal as part of a mass move by landlords to discount rents amid the pandemic, to keep tenants in place while many others fled the city at its Covid-19 peak.

Then, in April 2022, when he logged into the online payment portal like usual to submit rent, a message popped up: starting in June, he’ll be paying $3,650 (£2,912).

The new price tag of his rent is a reality he doesn’t want to swallow, of course – but Long feels he may have no choice but to stay, once he accounts for all the costs of moving, a new security deposit, first month’s rent and more. He also wants to avoid the intense anxiety of trying to find a new place that’s even available, as inventory is the lowest it’s been in New York City since the 2008 financial crisis. “It’s not really worth it to go through all the stress” if all those costs are barely cheaper than his 60% rent increase, he says. “Right now, I’m considering getting a roommate again, because this is just eating into my 401(k)” retirement savings.

Long’s conundrum is one many New Yorkers are facing, since re-locating to a cheaper flat now isn’t as simple as browsing real-estate listings. Renters are often finding themselves financially and logistically unable to move from their flats if they want to stay in the city, putting them in unavoidable positions that are squeezing them beyond their means.

This has also been the case for 29-year-old account manager Andy Ward, who moved into a Brooklyn studio last year and had been paying $2,100 per month, with one month free, as a pandemic incentive. But in April 2022, when Ward got an automated email asking him to e-sign his lease renewal agreement, he was greeted with news he now must pay an extra $400 each month.

Sam Chandan, professor of finance at New York University in New York City, and director of its Center for Real Estate Finance Research, says the renters most feeling the squeeze are those in ‘workforce housing’, or “the rents that are affordable and attainable for the teacher, the fireman, the policeman”. So, not only are they unable to stay in their current flat, they could be displaced out of the city altogether. And while big-city living has always favoured the wealthy, some worry this crisis could force out working-class renters, potentially meaning only a certain privileged class of people will be able to live in major cities.

‘They’re not budging at all’

These rent spikes are unlike any a city like New York has seen, experts say. “The pace of rent increases has really run ahead of anything that we’ve seen in recent memory,” says Chandan. “In many cases, rents have risen faster than the median family income.”

What’s mostly driving that rise is that more people have flocked back to cities in huge droves worldwide, explains Chandan; for instance, more people are moving to New York City now than they did before the pandemic. According to local government, office buildings and schools re-opening played a big role in people relocating to New York, as did the arts and entertainment scene, like Broadway, bouncing back.