Tenant Problems From Foreclosures Hitting NYC Harder Than Elsewhere

In New York City, The New York Times reports:

• In New York, a city of renters despite the recent condominium boom, tenants are particularly at risk. According to census figures for 2006, the most recent year for which data was available, an estimated 65.6 percent of New York City housing was renter occupied, as opposed to 32.7 percent nationwide. “The effects of the subprime crisis and the housing-price crisis are just different in New York than in many parts of the country,” said Vicki Been, the director of the Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy at New York University, citing factors like strong home prices and low homeownership rates. “The crisis is unfolding more slowly and, I think, it is affecting many more renter households than it is elsewhere in the country.”

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• Foreclosures can have an impact on tenants in lots of ways, but there are two sets of problems that most will face. The first and most daunting is eviction. The second is a loss of services, which can mean anything from having to fix your own clogged pipes to losing heat in the winter.

For more, see Even Renters Aren’t Safe.