Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2023.Mayor Eric Adams wants to give landlords of rent-stabilized apartments $25,000 to renovate vacant units if they agree to rent to New Yorkers with rental assistance vouchers, City Hall announced on Wednesday.
“This program improves the quality of our housing stock, while providing incentives to property owners to make vacant units available for the lowest-income New Yorkers,” said Chief Housing Officer Jessica Katz in a statement. Meanwhile, landlords point to the financial burden for repairs and how upgrades would be far more substantial than the costs they can recoup through rent. But critics are skeptical that all vacancies amid the city’s dire need for housing can be attributed to this alone.
“It is completely unrealistic to think that $25,000 is anywhere close to enough to renovate a rent-stabilized apartment and bring it into compliance,” reads a joint statement from CHIP Executive Director Jay Martin and RSA President Joseph Strasburg.
What happens after 2 years? I smell another scam