Post-Pandemic, Renters Confront ‘A Perilous Position’ in New York
Our conversation continues with the author of the forthcoming Mayor Michael Bloomberg: The Limits of Power (Cornell University Press), focusing this week on issues facing the next New York City mayor, foremost among them the housing crisis.
Urban Matters: Your book is fairly critical of what you see as Mayor Bloomberg’s failures regarding housing. But are New York’s affordable housing problems all any mayor’s fault? Hasn’t Federal disinvestment really tied the mayor’s hands?
Lynne A. Weikart: The Federal government’s role in public housing gets smaller every year, and because the Federal government withdraws more and more support in this arena, it forces State and municipal governments to find their own funding.
With the [1980] Reagan election and the Federal defunding of city services, building public housing ended. State and municipal governments turned to private developers, who were given tax incentives to build housing. This was not generally successful, because developers were not interested in building low-income housing. It did not satisfy their profit goals. New York City cannot use any Federal funds to build public housing because the Federal government has limited housing authorities from using Federal funds to build additional public housing. If the City were to build public housing, the City would have to use its own funds. This funding crisis builds annually with a catastrophic human toll.
UM: Has the Biden Administration and the American Rescue Plan Act started to alter the dynamics on this issue?
Weikart: Yes, the Act provides funding for several critical programs important to the City: emergency rental assistance, homeowner assistance, emergency housing vouchers, homelessness assistance and supportive services, housing counseling, relief, and funds for fair housing activities.
But we, and I mean the City and its residents, are in a perilous position. There are thousands of renters in the city that are behind on their rent and thousands behind on mortgage payments. The Right to Counsel NYC Coalition has documented that 220,000 tenants in New York State have been sued for back rent and are at risk of eviction. This is the real issue. So many people have lost their jobs that thousands face losing their homes. The highest risks are in the Bronx, which has one of the highest concentrations of rent-stabilized housing. The legislative dam which has held back this flood of disastrous evictions is threatening to burst very soon.
So swift and proper implementation of the Act is crucial.
UM: Given the power the State has in setting City policy, what can the State do to alleviate the housing crisis that the City cannot?
Weikart: A lot. Here is one example: In 2019, the State Legislature, with the agreement of the Governor, abolished the evil of vacancy decontrol, reversing what had been a Robber Baron looting of the city’s stock of affordable housing.
With the elimination of vacancy decontrol, a landlord could no longer deregulate units when monthly rents rise above $2,775. The vacancy decontrol provision had been a double whammy; it eliminated rent regulation when the rent hit this level and created extreme incentives for landlords to use every possible legal loophole and illegal trick to raise rents to that level. In addition, the Legislature repealed the vacancy bonus, a provision that enabled landlords to hike rents by 30 percent when a tenant left a rent-regulated apartment.
It was an amazing piece of legislation to finally protect tenants. In one progressive legislative act, the State managed to dramatically slow evictions in 2019, before Covid. The elimination of this powerful incentive to evict paying tenants mitigated the forces that cause people to become homeless in the city. This is one example of the progressive use of State power. No mayor had the authority to make that happen, only the State. Now we are faced with possible evictions as a consequence of Covid; we are dependent upon the State to stop these evictions.
UM: Covid-19 hit New York City especially hard. Make a crystal ball prediction: Will taking office post-pandemic be a chance to overcome the limits of mayoral power – or will those limits win out in the end?
Weikart: Although the City is a creature of the State, the mayor of the largest city in America is not without power. Our mayor appoints all commissioners and members of boards; has the power to estimate revenues and impound funds from revenue sources enacted by the City Council; and, along with the Council, controls zoning. Compare this to the mayor of Los Angeles, the second-largest city, who cannot even hire or fire the Police Commissioner.
Of course, New York State is a powerhouse. The City cannot increase our own taxes, except for the property tax. Covid doesn’t change this scenario. The same limitations exist.
What has changed is the role of public health officials. In a pandemic, the public health officers assert themselves and local officials often take a back seat. If the “new normal” is more pandemics, then we actually could see even more limits to local control, not less.
Other issues may impact on limits on local government. Now the legislatures in this state and in other states are talking about controlling zoning and taking that power away from localities. There are pressures on local government to house low-income residents in all parts of the city including wealthier areas, something local government typically resists. This is a challenge for every locality. I don’t think the answer is to take more power away from localities – but it certainly could happen.
Photo by Matias Campa.