NYC Rents Rising Twice As Fast As Wages, Except for Wealthiest, Study Finds
Compounding the city’s affordability crisis: rents in the city rose twice as fast as wages, according to the analysis, which compared the StreetEasy Rent Index with wage data from the city’s Department of Labor. While median rents increased 3.9 percent a year since 2010, wages increased by 1.8 percent over the same period. Those working in the city’s lowest wage jobs were hit hardest. Low-wage earners — those in the bottom 20 percent of the workforce, which represent a little
Annual count finds 40 percent increase in street homeless
An annual count of the city’s unsheltered population showed a 40 percent increase in homeless people on city streets, despite the efforts of the de Blasio administration to curb the rising rate of homelessness. There were 3,892 people homeless and unsheltered in 2017, according to the estimate conducted in February, up from 2,794 last winter. It was the largest number since 2005, when the city first began estimating the unsheltered population. Mayor Bill de Blasio has grapple
Influx of high-priced rentals has pushed Manhattan’s median price up
May’s rental transactions of $15,000 or higher more than doubled compared to last year. An influx of new development rentals, and a large number of new leases signed over $15,000, pushed median rental prices up in Manhattan this May according to Douglas Elliman’s monthly market report tracking rental prices in the borough as well as Brooklyn and Queens. In Manhattan, May’s median rental price increased 2.2 percent from last year to $3,475, while the average rental price rose
Vacant storefronts and shuttered venues plague the once-iconic Bleecker Street
It’s bleak on Bleecker St. for commercial stores. There’s an 18.4% vacancy rate along stretches of the well-known West Village street — once famous for its beatnik shops and music venues like the Village Gate and the Bitter End, places where Bob Dylan once played. “Bleaker on Bleecker: A Snapshot of High-Rent Blight,” used on-the-ground data collection and firsthand accounts to look into the root causes and impacts of storefront vacancies and recommends a number of solutions.
How Google Street View documents a changing New York City
Think about where NYC was in 2007: it was pre-recession, but also before the so-called “eight digit boom”that led to the development of the supertall skyscrapers that now dominate Central Park South. Megaprojects like Hudson Yards or Pacific Park had yet to begin construction, and neighborhoods like Williamsburg or Long Island City—while still in the process of adding new buildings—weren’t the built-up areas we see today. Heck, the High Line and Brooklyn Bridge Park hadn’t ev
