NYC has 100,000+ Empty Apartments! (with @boweryboi)

[DAGG]

Leave them empty. Then nobody wins. It's the American way.

[odnewdylee]

Someone who does rentals for a living here, I'm not sure what's in the 2019 legislation, but that explanation made zero sense. All the renovations are federally tax deductible, the renovated unit increases the value of the property, or the owners net worth and lending capability. Something else is going on because that explanation makes less than zero sense.

[PComp-ty]

Vacant houses and apartments should be taxed for being vacant. NO TAX CONCESSIONS SHOULD APPLY TO ANY HOUSING, IT MANIFESTS GREED.

[jaymac]

Change the law and offer a renovation grant and make them into a rent controlled building for lower income people. New York needs it

[llljoselll]

Tenant pays for repairs on a signed deal that rent will remain low until the cost of repairs equalizes, after that, a discounted rent for long term leases

[lynlyn]

In one word: GREED

Here is the issue:
As long time tenants leave, the apartments are kept empty, the building becomes dilapidated due to lack of renovation and essentially over time become a ghost house then the few remaining tenants are forced out as the building is now labeled as unsafe

The landlord can then gut the entire thing, carve up the space and create more apartments to maximize their profits

[BaalFridge]

Really effed up how widespread this problem is in every north american metropolis, even canada.

[lindasimons]

There is a method to this madness. Keeps people stressed and vulnerable. Easier to take advantage of. Vote for people who will change the laws. People deserve to live in homes but it’s more fun for the wealthy to F with us.

[haruhifujioka]

Threaten with eminent domain. Essentially Implement a policy where if a private apartment complex remains empty for a long enough time the government of New York City will buy the property from the landlord and renovate the apartments to become affordable housing.

[smartalek]

Option 1: As I blv some Euro cities do, assess a fee (or tax) on any vacant unit. (Then: RAISE the tax every add'l month it stays vacant.) Option 2: Any unit left untenanted for 3 months is automatically opened to tenancy by the 1st squatter to take possession. Option 3: Why not both? Both is good.

[neilperry]

Compulsory purchase order, by a charitable home /land owner to get this shit sorted.
We have the same problem here, inefficient sized flats, too many two bedroom or multiple roomed flats but no single roomed flats .

[evanetter]

I would say force the landlord to rent it, but that’s probably unconstitutional. A handy guy like me would gladly move back to NYC from Dallas and into that mess of an apt for 700-800. I’d fix it up real quick!

[christorpher]

Get the rent control Government out of the way which actually started during WW2 and was never changed

[kanganoroo]

That's amazing! If I could get this for $800/mth, I would split the cost of renovations. What are the advantages to the Landlord of it staying empty?

[mrf]

Im paying $2, 500 the landlord raised my rent $500. I've been in my apartment in Brooklyn for twenty three years.. Its not that I cant afford my apartment I refuse to pay a penny more.. Its time to move on. Im purchasing a house in Queens by the end of this year. I love my neighborhood but I'm not going to get taken advantage of ✌..

[eliezerarce]

We need to be committed to developing mixed income communities where working class people can actually afford to live.

[PoM-MoM]

So how much does the OWNER claim per year on tax deduction because they say that they can't rent the apartment?

[tengatango]

Tax the empty apartment landlords.

Either that or forcefully seized

[LUNUSt]

Sounds like the landlord should be arrested for price manipulation.

[pattigriep]

Maybe charge those landlords fees for allowing them to stay empty each month.