From Newsgroup: alt.law-enforcement

They don't know why, they claim!
You must take action of the people who choose to not pay rent
when they can.
Anything provided free will be misused!
rCLThere is a subset of people, maybe the smallest subset, who are
literally making a choice not to pay rent, and we donrCOt do well with acknowledging that but there is a subset for whom that is the case,rCY
said Davon Russell, president of WHEDco, a nonprofit housing provider in
the South Bronx. Russell says herCOs collecting rent from just 75 percent
of tenants. rCLIf werCOre ultimately caring about keeping people housed, we should just as doggedly talk about the people who are sabotaging that.rCY


from https://www.politico.com/news/2026/06/21/rent-collections-are-down-in-new-york-and-no-ones-sure-why-00966982

Rent collections are down in New York rCo and no one's sure why
The issue has exposed thorny questions for the cityrCOs affordable housing sector.

At an apartment building in Brooklyn on Jan. 1, 2026, New York City
Mayor Zohran Mamdani signs three executive orders to confront the cityrCOs housing crisis: revitalizing the MayorrCOs Office to Protect Tenants and establishing two new task forces to accelerate housing construction, get
New Yorkers into homes faster, and increase supply by identifying
suitable city-owned properties.
At an apartment building in Brooklyn on Jan. 1, 2026, New York City
Mayor Zohran Mamdani signs three executive orders to confront the cityrCOs housing crisis: revitalizing the MayorrCOs Office to Protect Tenants and establishing two new task forces to accelerate housing construction, get
New Yorkers into homes faster, and increase supply by identifying
suitable city-owned properties. | Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography
Office

By Janaki Chadha
06/21/2026 10:00 AM EDT

NEW YORK rCo More tenants living in New York CityrCOs least expensive
housing units arenrCOt paying their rent rCo a trend that risks further destabilizing the cityrCOs affordable housing market.

The uptick in rental delinquency isnrCOt new. It started six years ago,
when the pandemic flung the cityrCOs economy into chaos and plunged
low-income New Yorkers into dire financial straits. But even as the city
has rebounded, rent collection rates in affordable housing remain short
of pre-pandemic levels. As costs balloon, landlords say insufficient
rental income is threatening their ability to stay afloat.

The issue has confounded owners and operators of these buildings, many
of them nonprofits, which are often celebrated as a model for addressing
the extreme dearth of housing options for very low-income people.

But why rent collections remain depressed is a matter of debate, and has exposed thorny questions for a sector that prides itself on housing
people on the margins. Are some tenants rCo in the wake of a years-long
pause on evictions and demands to rCLCancel RentrCY rCo withholding payments even when theyrCOre able to make them? Or is it simply harder than ever to
be poor in one of the nationrCOs most expensive cities?

rCLThere is a subset of people, maybe the smallest subset, who are
literally making a choice not to pay rent, and we donrCOt do well with acknowledging that but there is a subset for whom that is the case,rCY
said Davon Russell, president of WHEDco, a nonprofit housing provider in
the South Bronx. Russell says herCOs collecting rent from just 75 percent
of tenants. rCLIf werCOre ultimately caring about keeping people housed, we should just as doggedly talk about the people who are sabotaging that.rCY

Others bristle at the notion that some tenants are not paying rent just because they may be able to get away with it. Indeed, plenty of economic indicators suggest worsening financial duress for people already
struggling. Costs are going up faster than wages, and inflation that
took hold after the pandemic has proven painfully persistent. Landing a
spot in subsidized affordable housing, in other words, hardly means a
person wonrCOt still find themselves squeezed.

rCLIn some peoplerCOs minds, just evoking the words rCycancel rentrCO somehow unlocked in their tenants the idea that they no longer ever had to pay
rent again, and I just donrCOt think thatrCOs true,rCY said Sam Stein, a housing policy analyst at the Community Service Society. rCLPeople are in legitimately dire straits and they donrCOt have a choice to make. I donrCOt think thererCOs been this mass cultural shift toward flouting the
obligation to pay rent.rCY

Whatever the reason, the rent collection conundrum comes as costs like property insurance have skyrocketed for owners, pushing New YorkrCOs affordable housing sector to a breaking point as Mayor Zohran Mamdani
seeks to expand construction and preservation to a record 400,000
lower-cost units over a decade.

rCLItrCOs created a lot of real financial upheaval for affordable housing, sort of across the board,rCY said Patrick Boyle, a senior director for New York at Enterprise Community Partners, a nonprofit that invests in
affordable housing projects.

Before Covid, many owners say they consistently pulled in at least 95
percent of their expected rent, which is regarded as the necessary
threshold to cover a buildingrCOs costs. Last year, rent collections were
at about 89 percent, according to Enterprise data on affordable
properties it oversees as an asset manager. While that dip may not seem dramatic, these properties operate on tiny margins, leaving little
cushion to account for the unexpected drop in revenue.

rCLEven though it seems like a small percentage drop, coupled with those
other things, itrCOs significant,rCY Boyle said.

A broader survey of 428 affordable housing projects conducted by
Enterprise and the National Equity Fund, which both serve as
intermediaries between developers and federal tax credit investors,
found the share of projects with very troubled rent collection rates rCo defined as less than 80 percent rCo jumped from 3 percent in 2017 to 11 percent in 2024.

Some housing experts say incentives for tenants have shifted in the wake
of Covid-era aid and an eviction moratorium that lasted from March 2020
to early 2022. Tenant activists at the time converged around a demand to rCLCancel RentrCY rCo essentially a push to forgive pandemic-era arrears. The state eventually established an emergency rental assistance program that
doled out more than $4 billion in aid.

One condition for landlords who received these emergency funds on behalf
of tenants was that they could not pursue an eviction case for at least
a year thereafter, with some exceptions. This produced a considerable
backlog, and even today a housing court case can stretch on for months
if not years. Against that backdrop, tenants may believe thererCOs help coming, or at least grace, if they donrCOt pay.

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rCLWe have to consider what the unintended consequences are of public
policies or practices where there are no immediate consequences for
someone who falls behind on rent,rCY said Michelle de la Uz, executive director of Fifth Avenue Committee, a nonprofit affordable housing provider.

Producing more affordable housing for very low-income people is often
held up as the path to stability for countless New Yorkers at risk of
eviction and the roughly 80,000 people sleeping in municipal homeless
shelters each night.

So taking people to court over nonpayment can make for uncomfortable
optics for organizations who run this housing. Many say they donrCOt
actually intend to evict anyone, but that filing these cases is the most expedient way to get emergency rental aid from the city. (The cityrCOs
Human Resources Administration, which doles out the emergency assistance
known as rCLone-shot deals,rCY says going to housing court is not a requirement for getting this aid, but owners say an active case moves
you up in the queue.)

rCLI donrCOt think people choose to fall into debt if they can otherwise
avoid it, or choose to subject themselves to an eviction proceeding,rCY
Cea Weaver, MamdanirCOs tenant protection czar and a longtime tenant
activist, said in an interview. rCLPeople who are very low-income make extraordinarily smart decisions about how to survive in a really
challenging and expensive city, and that comes with a huge amount of anxiety.rCY

Even if the rent is affordable, for someone making, say, $35,000 a year,
other costs can easily push them over the edge. ThererCOs not much left
over to account for a health emergency, or a funeral, or kidsrCO school supplies.

In public housing, rents are pegged to a householdrCOs current income and
can be adjusted up or down if that income changes. For privately-run affordable housing, a person or family must meet certain income
qualifications before they move in rCo and typically wonrCOt pay more than
30 percent of their income in rent, at least at first. But the rent
wonrCOt be adjusted down if their income drops.

The Mamdani administration is aiming to provide more financial cushion
to the lowest-income renters in city-subsidized affordable housing. In forthcoming housing deals, extremely-low income renters will pay no more
than 25 percent of their income in rent, a change that also means these projects will require more city subsidies amid a budget crunch.

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The democratic socialist mayorrCOs campaign pledge to freeze rents on 1 million rent-stabilized apartments rCo which includes subsidized
affordable housing rCo could also give overburdened tenants some extra breathing room. Rents on these units went up a cumulative 12 percent
over four years under former Mayor Eric Adams. But the move to keep
rents flat, which will be decided by the Rent Guidelines Board next
week, would freeze rental income for owners who are struggling to absorb
costs and increasingly falling into financial distress.

In the face of low rent collections, Russell, of WHEDco, says the organizationrCOs buildings are being kept afloat by one-shot deal payments from HRA. The affordable housing sector at large is pushing for a
quicker path to obtaining this emergency assistance, and more rCLupstreamrCY solutions that address tenant rent burdens before they balloon.

A recent visit to Bronx housing court illustrated the complexities of nonpayment cases.

One man, whorCOs lived for 15 years in a rent-stabilized apartment in the Pelham section of the Bronx, is on the verge of eviction after not
paying his $588 monthly rent for about a year and racking up some $7,000
in arrears. While his rent is significantly below the average market
rate, herCOs not in income-restricted affordable housing and said his
income is limited to social security disability payments that amount to
about $1,000 per month rCo rCLjust enough to get by.rCY

The man, who was granted anonymity to speak freely about his situation,
said he fell behind because herCOs been helping a cousin who struggles
with addiction and other health issues, paying for medical expenses and
money she owes to dealers threatening her harm.

rCLI love her so much and I care for her, and sherCOs not well,rCY he said after his court hearing. rCLIt took too long for me to start thinking
about myself.rCY

HerCOs applied for a one-shot deal from HRA, but it hasnrCOt come through yet.

The outstanding rent arrears in these cases are often daunting,
especially relative to a personrCOs very limited income.

rCLIf your income is $25,000 a year and you owe $7,000, it might as well
be a million dollars,rCY said Lisa Bova-Hiatt, CEO of the New York City Housing Authority, which runs the cityrCOs vast stock of public housing.

NYCHA is struggling with nearly $500 million in arrears, much of it from
the pandemic. The agencyrCOs monthly rent collections rCo currently at 87 percent for new rent charges rCo have recovered to more or less what they
were before Covid, but still reflect a decline from 95 percent average
rent collections a decade ago (a time period that also coincided with
poor conditions mounting in many public housing buildings).

rCLI do think that the psychology around owing so much money then
sometimes becomes overwhelming for people,rCY Bova-Hiatt said. rCLItrCOs like, okay, well, I owe $7,000, whatrCOs another couple of hundred?rCY



Filed Under:
HousingNew YorkRentZohran Mamdani
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