TESTIMONY
Robert Desir, Staff Attorney at Legal Aid Society on the Impact of Housing Crisis and the Need for Extending Rent Laws
2:09:36
·
3 min
Robert Desir testifies on the critical state of the housing crisis in New York City and calls for the extension of rent laws.
- Desir outlines the low vacancy rates for rental units and the lack of affordable housing for low to middle-income families.
- The testimony reveals over 200,000 families are on the waiting list for public housing and section 8, showcasing the significant demand.
- He emphasizes the severe rent burden on households earning below $70,000, and how stability in housing improves health, education, and employment outcomes.
- Desir concludes that extending rent laws is vital to protect over a million vulnerable families from eviction and homelessness.
Robert Desir
2:09:36
Good afternoon.
2:09:37
The legal aid society welcomes a chance testify before this committee about the continuing housing emergency and the importance of extending the rent loss.
2:09:49
The declining number of vacant units available for rent and the fact that housing expansion has not kept pace with population growth and the ongoing public housing crisis have all contributed to the scarcity of available affordable housing.
2:10:03
The selected HVS findings show an unprecedented vacancy rate for New York City renters of 1.41 percent, a rate that hasn't been seen since the sixties, a rate that's well under the 5% threshold for an emergency and also in stark contrast to the rate that we saw in 2021.
2:10:24
The picture is even more dire for very low rent apartments for whom the vacancy rate is 0.39%.
2:10:34
Sadly, this decline extends across all of the housing stock that middle and low income households reside in.
2:10:40
They're 30% less Mitchellama and project based section 8 units than they were in 1990.
2:10:48
There are over 200,000 families on the waiting list for nitrile public housing and 17,000 on the waiting list for section 8 in New York City.
2:10:58
This is all also in the face of declining affordability with immediate renter income is 70,000 and half of New York City rent to households, those earning under 70,000 are severely rent burdened paying over half of their income in rent.
2:11:13
Among households earning less than $25,000 a year who don't live in public housing or don't have a voucher, 86% of those are severely run burdened.
2:11:24
According to HVS, only 13% of the 32,000 apartments available for rent were affordable to New Yorkers earning less than $50,000 a year.
2:11:35
Household would have to earn between 100,150,000 to afford 1 of these vacant apartments among households earning sorry.
2:11:45
So when families have stable housing, it leads to better outcomes in health, education and employment.
2:11:51
Housing stability vastly increases chances of avoiding issues such as risk of depression, and chronic illnesses like diabetes, low weight, and our preterm infants.
2:12:01
For children, frequent moves before a child is seven years old, leads to greater thought related and attention related problems.
2:12:11
These problems can reduce educational achievement.
2:12:15
Thus, the emergency continues to exist, and these essential laws must be extended.
2:12:20
The conditions that led to the creations of the laws such as the high demand, low availability and high rents continue to exist.
2:12:28
If the city doesn't act programs that have been created to protect elderly residents and residents with disabilities like screen injury will become meaningless.
2:12:37
And these New Yorkers with disabilities and that are elderly will find themselves threatened with eviction and homelessness.
2:12:44
Thanks for the opportunity to testify before the committee.
2:12:48
We hope that New York City will extend the rent laws and protect the housing of over 1,000,000 families.