City council passes bill enabling tenants to report vacant apartments
New York City’s move to let tenants report long-vacant apartments and sue to force inspections has reignited debate over “warehousing” of units amid a broader housing shortage. Commenters argue over whether landlords are rationally responding to rent control, taxes, and financing rules, or deliberately keeping units empty to sustain high rents and speculative values. Many see the core problem as restrictive zoning and under-building rather than individual vacant units, while others worry that encouraging tenants to report landlords risks deepening social conflict and expanding surveillance-like enforcement.
Existence and Scale of “Warehoused” Apartments
- Several commenters challenge the idea that “sane” landlords keep units vacant, arguing vacancy is usually too costly.
- Others cite lawsuits and reporting about rent-optimization software (e.g., RealPage/YieldStar) that encourages deliberate vacancies to push up area rents.
- Data from Berkeley’s vacancy tax analysis is used to argue that intentionally long‑term vacant units are a small share of total stock.
- Vancouver’s vacancy tax is cited as proof that a non-trivial number of homes were long-term empty and that taxation reduced this somewhat, though its overall impact is debated.
Economic Incentives to Leave Units Empty
- Explanations offered:
- Tax and appraisal dynamics where filling a unit or lowering rent can trigger higher property taxes or lender scrutiny.
- Desire to avoid locking in lower “baseline” rents under rent stabilization rules.
- Collusion or parallel behavior via pricing algorithms that seek profit-maximizing vacancy rates.
- Risk/transaction costs: bad tenants, wear-and-tear, or wanting “perfect” tenants.
- Some note vacancy can make sense when a building is about to be sold; empty units may increase sale price.
Rent Control, Regulation, and NYC Specifics
- NYC’s rent stabilization is repeatedly blamed for perverse incentives: owners may leave regulated units empty if renovation costs can’t be recouped at capped rents.
- Long-term regulated units effectively become inheritable quasi-assets for tenants’ families, seen by many as unfair and highly distortionary.
- Others argue tenant protections cannot be “too far” if landlords still operate profitably.
Supply, Zoning, and Macro Housing Policy
- Strong camp: core problem is constrained supply via zoning, historic districts, parking minimums, shadow rules, and single-family restrictions. Solution: build much more housing, upzone, relax rules.
- Counterview: the U.S. has enough housing nationally; over-concentration in superstar cities and structural incentives are the real issues.
Tenant Reporting and “Snitching” Concerns
- Some see tenant reporting of vacant/unsafe units as necessary enforcement of existing health and safety laws.
- Others worry about “see something, say something” culture, deputizing citizens to do what the state may be constrained from doing, and deepening landlord–tenant and class antagonism.