Who Really Benefits from New York City's Rent Regulation System?


 

Publication Date: March 2003

Publisher: Manhattan Institute for Policy Research. Center for Civic Innovation

Author(s): Henry O. Pollakowski

Research Area: Social conditions

Keywords: rent regulation; rent deregulation; New York City; rent stabilization

Type: Report

Coverage: New York

Abstract:

This report analyzes the benefits provided by rent regulation in New York City and estimates the effects that total or partial deregulation would have on City residents. The author, Dr. Henry O. Pollakowski, finds that rent stabilization provides little benefit to residents of the outer boroughs and the lower and middle-income neighborhoods of Manhattan, while providing a substantial subsidy only to the residents of the relatively affluent areas of Lower and Mid-Manhattan. Even including those areas, it finds that the median monthly subsidy provided by rent stabilization is only $42, and moreover that the median monthly rent would rise a mere $8 under total deregulation, due to the downward pressure on rent levels the expansion of the unregulated market would create.