NYC's housing shortages are worsening as the city loses hundreds of thousands of units, as claimed by new research.
Adam Brodheim, a preservationist, shared his analysis showing that for the past 70 years, New York City's buildings have been converted into one or two-family houses.
Activists, supporters, and members of the homeless community attend a protest calling for greater access to housing and better conditions at homeless shelters, outside City Hall in New York City on March 18, 2022.
Specifically, Brodheim claimed that 50,000 housing units were consolidated, making the overall housing consolidations in NYC to over 100,000 units.
NYC Faces Housing Shortages as City Loses Over 100,000 Units
According to Business Insider's latest report, Brodheim said that the consolidation issue in NYC's housing units is caused by rich families who want to have bigger houses.
However, he clarified that his analysis doesn't intend to put the blame on these rich people but to show the worsening housing shortages in New York City.
"I'm not trying to begrudge folks who are trying to build a larger apartment as their families grow," said Brodheim.
"I'm trying to bring attention to the way these actions across the entire city make a meaningful impact on our housing crisis," he added.
The New York Post reported that the Department of City Planning also revealed its own analysis, which has similar findings to the research of Brodheim.
The Department of City Planning's analysis revealed that many of the most iconic residential areas in New York City are losing their stock of homes, as well as apartments.
These include the Upper West Side, the West Village, and Hell's Kitchen. NYC officials said that the majority of all the new housing production in these boroughs has been concentrated in just a few small areas, such as Greenpoint, downtown Brooklyn, DUMBO, Hudson Yards, etc.
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How Will NYC Mayor Eric Adams Solve This?
A sign advertises an apartment for rent along a row of brownstone townhouses in the Fort Greene neighborhood on June 24, 2016 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. According to a survey released on Thursday by real-estate firm RealtyTrac, Brooklyn ranked as the most unaffordable place to live in the United States.
NYC's worsening housing shortage is not something to be taken lightly as it greatly affects lower-income and middle-income families since living in the city will be difficult for them.
But, New York City's developers said that they are already making plans on how to solve the housing and apartment shortages.
One of their efforts is taking advantage of the office towers, which are no longer being used since many employees are already working from home.
Mayor Eric Adams' administration is also urging for empty offices to be converted into residential apartments.
Right now, NYC officials and developers were able to transform a former workspace into a 600-unit apartment, which is expected to be rented out before 2023 ends.
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