The 2008 New York City Housing and Vacancy Survey carries more bad news for tenants. Apartments renting for $1,000 or more now represent 55.8% of the total. This compares to only 15.9% in 1996, and 27.3% in 2002. In others words, the percentage has doubled from 2002, and almost quadrupled since 1996 (as intended by the architects of rent de-regulation).
The numbers in respect to apartments renting for $1,500 per month or more are particularly grim. There are now more than 445,000 of these apartments, more than 200,000 of which already rent for $2,000 or more. The 445,000 compares to the 1999 total of slightly fewer than 120,000. In short, more apartments than ever are either already de-regulated, or else one vacancy away from being de-regulated under current rules.
As anticipated, any increases in private rental stock have occurred at the upper end of the income scale, and the benefits have not trickled down.
A link to an article describing the conscious effort to destroy rent regulation in New York is available to the right.