NYC Comptroller Issues Report on Citywide Housing Conditions

Almost a quarter of the city's million rent-regulated apartments had three or more maintenance problems, according to a new report looking at housing conditions in New York by city Comptroller Scott Stringer. This information was based on Census data. Staten Island had the highest-quality rent-stabilized housing stock, followed by Queens, Manhattan, Brooklyn, and the Bronx.

The comptroller’s report found that the maintenance condition of rent-stabilized housing units appeared to be generally worse than that of market-rate rental units. Structure size affected rates of maintenance problems, with large buildings seeing significantly fewer deficiencies than small and mid-sized buildings. Surprisingly, the study found little evidence that maintenance quality is related to the amount of rent a tenant pays.

It also found that African Americans are most likely to live in poorly maintained housing, with 34 percent of black households in rent-regulated apartments reporting three or more serious maintenance deficiencies, compared with 28 percent of Hispanic households, 18 percent of Asian/Pacific Islander households, and 16 percent of white households.

That said, 99.8 percent of all housing types in New York City were in "structurally decent condition" as of 2011, Mr. Stringer reported.

"While much of New York City's housing stock remains in good condition and asset values have increased, significant pockets of our city's housing are deteriorating," he said. "We still have much work to do to ensure that every New Yorker has a safe place to call home."