An election day reckoning or more status quo in New York State. We break down the results and what they mean for housing policy. Court officials are warning attorneys that it will take more than a year to evict a non-paying renter, which is why we are suggesting a different way; we'll explain. And inflation is going down everywhere except New York. We'll tell you why housing policy is driving an inflation spike in our region. Let's start housing New York. 

[THEME]

“We need 800,000 units to meet the demand today… What we have right now in the United States and what we have right now in New York City is almost a crisis of absurdity… We have to figure out a way to get these vacant units back online in a reasonable way that sets a rent that's affordable for most people… We have thousands of people with rent vouchers and no place to use them. Housing needs to be addressed from literally every angle. And what that means is, we’re all going to have to compromise… ”

[INTRO]

Welcome to Housing New York, our weekly podcast where we break down the news that is impacting rental housing in our great city. I'm your host, Kenny Burgos. We're taping this on Tuesday, November 12th. The office was closed yesterday for Veterans Day, and we want to extend a heartfelt thank you to all our nation's veterans, those serving now, and those who have served.

As you can probably hear, my voice is pretty hoarse, and that's because I've just come back from the beautiful island of Puerto Rico, where I attended the annual SOMOS conference, where we had about 4,000 people from New York – from elected officials to government officials and everyone in between – discussing not only what happened on Tuesday's election, but discussing the path forward.

NYAA attends the conference because it's a unique opportunity where you have dozens upon dozens of elected officials and agencies and their staff readily available. And we had excellent conversations ranging from one, the major cost of operating housing here in New York City and some really, really fruitful conversations discussing the Scaffolding & Facade Law here in New York City.

I will say, the vibe maybe wasn't, uh, as pleasant as it has been in past years, given what's happened on Tuesday. And this is a predominantly, uh, Democratic attendance here in this conference. But I also will say that, throughout the conference, one of the main topics being discussed, and this is not just my own vantage point, but from others, was housing policy.

I think housing policy is recognized [as] being a major factor in what happened here, not just in New York, but across the country in Tuesday's election. 

And so on that note, let's get to the news.

[THE NEWS]

[The Election Results]

We start the podcast where we have to, with the election results. It's been about one week since Donald Trump scored an overwhelming victory.

Voters, even in New York City, shifted towards the Republican Party in virtually every neighborhood. The national result didn't have too much impact in New York State though. Virtually all incumbent state senators and state assembly members were re-elected, and the general balance and makeup for the State Legislature remains the same, although the New York State Senate did lose their supermajority. 

We think it is important for listeners to understand this dynamic. Elected officials generally focus on their constituents. They judge whether or not they deliver for their constituents by election results. As a former elected official, if this were my election year and my results were similar to what I've seen in New York City, I'd take a little pause though. I would see that Donald Trump and the Republican Party have increased their vote share specifically in the Bronx to 30% and trending 12-point swing in over eight years, is alarming.

This is part of the writing on the wall that I was seeing some years ago, not only in Latino communities, but also in my Bronx community where I was telling my colleagues, ‘We have to address these issues head on.’ Issues like housing, which is one of the cornerstones of my time in the State Legislature. Because I recognize every single day people are hurting. And they don't want to hear rhetoric, they don't want to hear ideology, they want us to address these issues head on without all the bells and whistles. 

As for housing policy, [the] state government really is where the majority of positive reforms can be made, no matter who the president is. So as an industry, we need to continue to make inroads with the State Legislature about how to improve housing, make it more affordable, [and] make it more abundant. 

It may seem a little flippant to say this, but the results of the presidential election haven't changed what we need to do on the state level, which is to educate lawmakers and present common sense solutions.

[A Democratic backlash against the real estate industry?]

Sticking with the election discussions briefly: There has been some reporting about the election of Donald Trump leading to backlash that is specifically directed at the real estate industry.

The Real Deal wrote about this. They quoted a few City Council members who think this is an opportunity to send a message. We want to reassure members that this is not how the majority of Democrats in power are thinking. Most of them are trying to gather more information, better understand what happened in this election, and how they can serve the people better going forward.

There is a lot of noise and rhetoric out there, especially on social media channels. People are pointing fingers, some are suggesting radical changes to how Democrats should operate. This will continue for a few months, but ultimately, the path forward for elected officials in New York City will be a reaction to what voters tell them.

Best to ignore the noise and focus on the great social media content we are putting out on housing policy.  

[Good Cause Eviction]

We are going to talk about good cause eviction now. The new law is still being interpreted in the courts, and there was a decision out of Queens Housing Court that created a lot of confusion. 

It was 1719 Gates vs. Torres. 

In this case, a property owner had started a holdover eviction against a tenant with significant rent arrears after their lease expired. The reason for this is that if a housing provider has a tenant who's failed to pay rent, they may not want to give them a lease renewal. The judge in the case originally dismissed the whole lawsuit, arguing that owners could no longer bring holdover cases after the passage of good cause eviction.

The owner had to refile a case as a non-payment case. Earlier this month, the judge reversed his decision, arguing that the law doesn't prohibit the filing of holdover cases for non payment of rent. 

Like most laws that are passed, lawmakers don't foresee all the complications with the law, so we expect many more cases involving good cause eviction to play out in the courts. It'll likely be years before we have full clarity on this law. 

We hope lawmakers understand that there is an inherent cost to this confusion. Legal fees for property owners are likely going to increase significantly with the passage of this law. That's going to lead to higher rents or less revenue to maintain buildings, which may lead to deteriorating buildings and units.

The passage of this law may very well be worth it in the long run, but it is disingenuous to suggest that it won't lead to higher rents and less affordability for renters. 

[Queens Housing Court]

Staying in Queens. The Queens County Bar hosted a seminar on the current issues with housing court, including long delays and lack of staffing. 

Court officials outlined the typical timelines for cases. For example, a non paying tenant in Queens won't be evicted for one year at the earliest. Again, this is the court official saying this. The reason is because of the large backlog. The law says that when a non payment proceeding begins, the initial court date must be set between three to eight days.

Typically, it takes the court six to eight weeks. Following the initial court date, cases are routinely adjourned for months at a time. And if a judge rules for an eviction, it takes another three to four months before the warrant is issued. 

When the court officials are telling property owners that the process is going to take this long, it impacts their decision making. Many small owners don't want to rent apartments because of these delays. Many larger owners move to file non payment proceedings sooner because it's basically like getting their ticket in line. It's also important to know that there is no alternative for an owner. If a tenant can't pay, the owner and tenant cannot work together and go to the government and ask for help.

The only way to get a tenant help from a One Shot Deal or a voucher is at the end of this process when they have an eviction warrant. This is why even non profit housing providers have been forced to file an increasing number of evictions in recent years. 

We need a better system. Our members don't want to go to housing court over rent disputes. If there was any kind of eviction diversion program or ability to get One Shot Deals to renters sooner, we would wholeheartedly support it. Our members would embrace it. Unfortunately, the lawyer lobby in New York is really powerful and they stand in the way of any efforts to implement eviction, diversion, or expedite one shot deals to tenants.

We hope this changes in the future.  

[Housing & Inflation]

We want to talk about housing and inflation now. There was a great piece in Bloomberg about how New York City's inability to build housing is making the city increasingly unaffordable. 

Specifically in 2024, inflation has declined basically everywhere else in America except New York City.

The reason is housing costs. Despite the fact that New York City is losing population, housing costs are going up, relative to the rest of the country.  

This is because [of] the lack of housing creation, but also the highly regulated environment has led to a decline in supply. We know thousands of rent stabilized apartments can't be rented because they need significant renovations and the buildings are losing money.

We know many small property owners are not renting out units because they know that housing courts are dysfunctional and can't take the risk. It's clear that inflation and affordability led to a massive shift in the electorate. If Democrats in New York are looking for a solution, it's staring them right in the face: They just need to change their housing policy so people can actually afford to live in the city.

[OUTRO]

And that's it for this week's episode. Be sure to follow us on all our social media handles @HousingNY – that's for Instagram, TikTok, X. Even YouTube shorts. 

The Housing New York podcast is a proud product of the New York Apartment Association. We appreciate your feedback and you can leave us a comment on Substack or wherever you listen to this podcast. You've been listening to Housing New York with Kenny Burgos, and remember, good housing policy starts with good conversation