In the eyes of ordinary people, the landlord will be happy to blossom when the rent rises, and the tenant will be beautiful when the rent is reduced, and there will always be someone who will benefit from it. But in New York right now, rents are falling, and the lives of tenants are still difficult. In the face of the epidemic and the economic downturn, the rich have chosen to move to country vacation villas, but ordinary people can only stay in New York and struggle. The authorities' "ban on expulsion orders" and some micro-subsidies will not solve the problem at all, and what they bring to the locals is only a helpless "zero-sum game".
(Image from pixabay)
The "worst rental house" has become popular, and the rent reduction of "hit workers" still cannot afford to rent
According to the American Overseas Chinese Daily, a New York real estate agent recently posted a video on the social media TikTok showing a set of apartments with a monthly rent of 1,650 US dollars (about 10,660 yuan), which shocked netizens with the small size and the difference in environment. The apartment is located near the junction of 5th Avenue and 11th Street in New York, and the proximity to NYU is probably its biggest "selling point."
The "worst apartment" with a monthly rent of $1650. (Screenshot of TikTok video)
"People ask me, what's the worst apartment you've ever seen, and I'll show you," SaidOwlton, the influencer who exposed the apartment, turned the camera to the interior of the apartment. "A mini fridge, no stove, no oven, just a closet." Knowlton swept the camera through the small studio within seconds, indicating that this was the whole picture of the room, and then told the audience that the tenants needed to share the restroom and bathroom on the other side of the corridor with the entire building.
The humble conditions and high prices have stunned American netizens: "People in prison live better" "When we say that apartments in New York City are like closets, people think we are joking." However, according to Knowlton, the current "sky-high price" of $1650 is actually the level after experiencing the epidemic and the rent "discount", which used to be higher here.
According to the American Overseas Chinese Daily, during the epidemic, New York, especially the most prosperous Manhattan, rents have indeed dropped significantly, but this has nothing to do with workers in most necessary industries (construction, catering, supermarkets, medical cleaning, etc.), who simply do not enjoy such "benefits".
The report quoted research by real estate website Streeteasy as showing that since the outbreak of the new crown virus, rent declines in midtown Manhattan have been the most prominent. In the study, Streeteasy cited data on the average salary ($55,973) of workers in new York's basic industries to delineate the "affordable housing" criterion based on rent as 30 percent of a worker's monthly income, or $1,400 a month. The study argues that even the East and West Districts of Midtown Manhattan, traditionally considered wealthy quarters, have now vacated hundreds of "affordable homes" that are affordable for blue-collar workers.
The truth is, however, that the vast majority of workers live near traditional "slums" such as the Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens, where rents have barely fallen, and in some cases have even risen. People's housing options are not more, but quite the opposite.
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According to the American Overseas Chinese Daily, the current arrears in rents in New York have reached $1 billion, and many tenants and landlords are undergoing eviction procedures due to rent arrears. Expulsions in African-American and Latino neighborhoods are at least twice as high as in white neighborhoods, and evictions in the poorest neighborhoods are at least five times higher than in wealthier neighborhoods.
"Being in eviction proceedings" does not lead to tenants living on the streets for the time being. At present, the New York government still prohibits landlords from evicting tenants due to the epidemic. Under the current prohibition of expulsion orders, all eviction cases will have to wait until at least February 26. And, if a tenant signs and submits a statement that life is hard due to the pandemic, the landlord will not be able to evict the other party until at least May 1.
Still, it's harder to rent in New York. Citing data previously provided by new York Small Landlords (NYSL), a New York Chinese rights activist group, China News Network said that more than 40% of the chinese New York landlords in the organization said they would leave their homes vacant to avoid tenants defaulting on rent but unable to evict. These vacant houses are mainly concentrated in the traditional "slums" of New York such as Brooklyn, which partly explains why house prices in the "rich areas" have fallen during the epidemic, while the rents in the "slums" have been relatively stable or even risen.
The American Overseas Chinese Daily quoted the local non-profit organization "Corporate Community Partners" as saying that landlords have encountered unprecedented resistance in repaying their mortgages. Brooklyn's landlord, Angela Tass, told them she hadn't gotten rent from tenants for the past nine months. But, unlike renters, the government has no bailouts for smallholders. "It's really frustrating and for me, managing finances is very difficult." "I have to refinance the house. I had to borrow $20,000 and I had to repay. ”
At the end of 2020, in order to protest the crazy expansion of the assets of Jeff Bezos, the world's richest man and founder of e-commerce company Amazon, in the epidemic, protesters piled up Amazon cartons in front of Bezos's New York mansion. (Image from social media)
For New York today, a "ban on deportation orders" is tantamount to an empty glove white wolf, using a paper order to try to resolve the real conflict of interest between the landlord and the tenant. The $1,400 per person relief planned by the Biden administration is also painless for tenants who have already defaulted on thousands of dollars in rent. The contradiction especially stands in New York when the epidemic is not brought under control, government aid eventually flows to the financial sector and into the hands of the wealthy, monopolies make a lot of money, and ordinary people find it difficult to find even a chance to work.