How single room occupancies could be the answer to NYC's housing crisis
It was another local tragedy attracting passing notice before being overtaken for our attention by the latest stray bullet homicides and subway assaults.
But those concerned with 'affordable housing' have much to learn from the Easter morning deaths of three Queens residents and the displacement of perhaps a dozen others in a fire in an illegal Jamaica Estates rooming house.
The fact that so many were willing to pay $700 to $1,000 a month to cram into small, subdivided bedrooms with shared bath and kitchen tells us not that we need to ban such 'single room occupancy' housing but that they should be a safe, legal and not rare part of our housing market.
Advertisement
5 Mayor Eric Adams has recently pushed for policy changes that would allow for the development of SROs — single-room occupancy residences aimed at lower-income New Yorkers.
Paul Martinka
Mayor Adams has tried to do just that in his City of Yes housing plan, but key legal obstacles remain.
There was a time when SROs were an extensive and crucial part of the city's residential infrastructure, providing housing that was cheap because it was small.
Advertisement
At their height, there were hundreds of thousands such rooms, offering shelter for those who might otherwise be on the street.
But the same crowd that saw any modest housing as slums, and deinstitutionalized the mentally ill, declared war on SROs, phasing them out by law starting in 1954, to the point that the Furman Center at NYU has estimated only 30,000 such rooms remain, even as the homeless dot our street corners.
5 The Hotel Jefferson, a typical SRO — this one in San Francisco used to house the homeless.
David G. McIntyre
To his credit, Eric Adams, in his housing proposal, has described the virtues of SROs well: 'Allowing more small and shared apartments will create a wider variety of housing options, and open larger, family-sized apartments that would otherwise be occupied by roommates.'
Advertisement
The proposal is attentive to the fact that this need not be 'flophouse' housing for the desperate; it cites the legendary Barbizon Hotel that provided a safe place for single women. Typical SROs include a front desk requiring ID and check-in.
SROs would be an especially good use for under-utilized office buildings, thanks to long hallways that could offer single rooms that share a kitchen and bath, rather than providing those for each unit.
5 Intelligently developed SROs could be a solution for the vast amount of office space now empty as a result of pandemic-era work-from-home edicts.
AFP via Getty Images
There are, unfortunately, good reasons those who want to convert homes or buildings to SROs now do so illegally. The owner/operator of a 20-room SRO on West 23rd Street, for instance, laments that the law subjects SRO buildings to rent stabilization.
Advertisement
'We'd like to renovate the bathrooms, hallways, and intercoms, but since our rental income is extremely limited, we do not have enough income to invest in the building to make it more attractive,' he said.
What's more, if a roomer moves out in less than six months, owners must pay the 5.8% hotel tax. An illegal operator avoids all the rent control red tape and any taxes, as well as, tragically, smoke detector laws, as was the case in the Queens fire.
The City Council, per Adams, took crucial first steps this past December toward bringing back SROs. They amended the city's zoning law to make possible units smaller than 400 square feet, without individual kitchens or baths, as well as relaxing parking requirements. Sounds a lot like the dorms that affluent college students don't mind living in.
Unfortunately, however, the right zoning is not enough; as the city's Housing and Preservation Department puts it: 'The Housing Maintenance Code does not allow housing with shared facilities as-of-right.'
As attorney Patrick Sullivan, who follows housing law for the law firm Kramer, Levin, Natalie's and Frankel, explains: 'Only specialized developers,' such as those for supportive housing, can take advantage of the new law. 'Other legal changes are still needed for more widespread adoption of SROs.'
5 The former Hotel Barbizon on the Upper East Side, an iconic post-War era SRO.
Google Maps
5 In many ways, SROs resemble college dormitories, which are an accepted form of housing for millions of young people nationwide.
Seventyfour – stock.adobe.com
Advertisement
We need to make it easier to build SROs 'as of right.'
For newcomers to the city, they can serve as a way station before trading up to a long-term apartment. For those who would rather not share their space with roommates, yet not live truly alone, SROs are also an option.
Let's hope the Adams administration continues to push for further legal changes so that SROs can become a more widespread and easy-to-realize housing option.
Advertisement
It's a better approach than pushing, as per Democratic mayoral candidates, for still more subsidized 'affordable' housing in a city that has more of it than anyplace else in the US — yet remains stuck in a perennial housing crisis.
Howard Husock is a senior fellow for domestic policy at the American Enterprise Institute
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CBS News
22 minutes ago
- CBS News
NYC Mayor Adams signs executive order, proposes legislation to define antisemitism
Sunday marked one week since a firebomb attack in Boulder, Colorado targeted people at a rally who were calling for the hostages in Gaza to come home. Thousands showed up in solidarity not only in Boulder but also in New York City, where Mayor Eric Adams took action to protect Jewish New Yorkers. Codifying the IHRA definition of antisemitism in NYC At a synagogue in Tribeca, the mayor signed an executive order to combat antisemitism. "I am signing an executive order to implement the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition," Adams said. The definition would include accusing Jews of inventing or exaggerating the Holocaust, and blaming Jews for Israel's actions. "If a city-funded organization denies the right of the Jewish people, the right to self determination, this definition gives us tools to crack down," Adams said. Given the fact that the Jewish community makes up 10% of the city's population, yet half the hate crimes are antisemitic, the mayor also called on the City Council to immediately codify the definition into law. Rally held in Boulder, Colorado Shofars were blown in Boulder, Colorado, marking the start of a new kind of strength bringing thousands together for Sunday's Run for Their Lives. A heavy police presence, including snipers on rooftops, watched over the crowd one week after an attack the injured 15 people, including a Holocaust survivor. They gathered peacefully to call for the release of the hostages taken from Israel into Gaza. Manhattan resident Moshe Lavi, whose brother-in-law, Omri Miran, is one of the people being held in captivity, flew to the rally on behalf of all hostage families. He told the crowd, "We will demand Hamas to let our people go." "It's a laid-back community. It was shocking," Denver resident Idi Jackson said. "I just felt that I wanted to be part of the community." "I got teary eyed. I got choked up. It's just an amazing outpouring of both community support and law enforcement," another person said. New Yorkers cannot be silent, UJA Federation CEO says There was a similar rally held in Central Park, with attendance three times the size of its usual number, according to organizers. "The fact that that could happen in this country makes it all the more important for us in New York, the largest Jewish community in world outside of Israel, to not be silent," said Eric Goldstein, CEO of the United Jewish Appeal Federation of New York. To mark 611 days in captivity, attendees held up the number 55, representing the remaining hostages. Around 20 are believed to be alive. Released hostage Raz Ben Ami told the crowd her husband, who was freed by Hamas a few months ago, lost nearly half is body weight from starvation. "Once in three weeks they let him see TV and they saw the rallies and that's what kept them strong," Ben Ami said.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Amtrak ready to close NYC tunnel despite fears of possible delays, chaos from Hochul, MTA
Amtrak is moving full speed ahead with tunnel closures in the city on Friday — despite pleas from Gov. Kathy Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams who fear the three-year project could cause transit chaos. Amtrak leadership had a 'productive' meeting with Hochul and leaders of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority Thursday, but Amtrak will still close one of two westbound train tracks in the East River Tunnel, according to Amtrak spokesperson Jason Abrams. 'Amtrak reassured the Governor and MTA of our commitment to minimizing impacts to passengers throughout the project,' Abrams said. The transit giant's much-maligned plan earned the ire of Long Islanders and top city and state officials over worries the closure could affect MTA trains from Queens into Penn Station. Any unforeseen construction problems may mean all access in the tunnel has to be closed off, potentially disrupting train traffic on a major regional scale, critics have argued. But Amtrak said to try to avoid delays it will provide around-the-clock engineering coverage during the outage, conduct more frequent inspections of the remaining westbound track — and strategically position rescue equipment so delays can be swiftly resolved. Hochul said Amtrak also agreed to allow third-party consultants to examine the project to determine if the second tunnel needs to be fully closed when that construction begins in the fall of 2026 and runs for 13 months. The construction on the first tunnel starting Friday will also take about 13 months, Amtrak engineers said. Hochul asked Amtrak to suspend dynamic pricing on affected train trips during the shutdown. Abrams said Amtrak is assessing the feasibility with the New York State Department of Transportation. Mayor Eric Adams jumped into the tunnel tug-of-war May 6, sending a fiery letter to US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy — blasting Amtrak's East River shutdown plan and demanding feds step in before commuters are left stranded and steaming. City Hall sources said Adams has been going back and forth with the White House on the shutdown, even having Randy Maestro, the first deputy mayor, make the admin's case. But ultimately, the mayor's office is letting Hochul lead the discussion. 'Top administration officials have had numerous conversations with Amtrak and the White House on this issue, and negotiations are still ongoing with the White House,' a City Hall rep said in a statement. The MTA's Long Island Railroad service uses the East River Tunnel for hundreds of trains each day. LIRR President Rob Free has tried to distance the MTA from the closure plan, calling it 'Amtrak's operation' last week — even though the MTA green-lit Amtrak's plan to close the tunnels back in October 2023. Amtrak has maintained that the full closure of the tunnels is necessary because of the extent of damages since it was walloped by Hurricane Sandy in 2012. 'Amtrak is committed to delivering for today's riders while making the long-overdue investments needed to protect service for future generations,' Abrams said.
New York Post
an hour ago
- New York Post
Soaking the rich — as Mamdani and other lefties want —won't pay for a supersized NYC gov't
Mayoral candidate and Queens Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani vaulted into contention in this month's Democratic primary by pledging to supersize city government. 'He knows exactly how to pay for it, too,' his campaign brags. Does he, though? Mamdani's platform — free child care, more public housing and an end to bus fares or CUNY tuition, just to name a few — wouldn't come cheap. Advertisement New Yorkers can have all of it, he promises, for the bargain-basement price of $10 billion in new revenues — less than a tenth of the current city budget. Mamdani is very much lowballing his agenda's price tag. Yet even if he weren't, he still wouldn't likely be able to deliver. Advertisement Most of his plans rely on a pair of tax hikes on corporations and millionaire earners, totaling $9 billion. He doesn't have authority to implement either. Should his cocktail of social-media savvy and socialism land him in Gracie Mansion, he'd need Gov. Kathy Hochul and state lawmakers to OK these 'revenue raisers.' New York's local governments, the city included, can't set their own personal or business income-tax rates. Between the city's 1975 brush with insolvency, and its more recent fiscal profligacy, that's understandable. Here's another good reason: Candidates sometimes don't understand themselves how taxes work — and Mamdani is clearly one of them. Advertisement Mamdani regularly compares the top state corporate tax rates of New York (7.25%) and New Jersey (11.5%). These are essentially the state tax rates on businesses profits related to their activity in a state. Mamdani says he'd 'match' New Jersey's rate. On the one hand, that would be a windfall—for Albany, which collects the state corporate tax, not for New York City, where most is generated. Yet Mamdani doesn't get that New York City's biggest firms already pay far more than they would on the other side of the Hudson. Before anyone cuts a check to Albany, city businesses pay the Business Corporation Tax, at least 6.5% for small businesses and as much as 9%. On their remaining income, companies pay the state Corporation Franchise Tax, plus a surcharge to support the MTA. Advertisement All-in, the top state-local rate for businesses in the city is generally just over 17.4%. For them, 'matching' New Jersey would be a meaty tax cut. But say Albany implemented Mamdani's $5 billion hike (after all, lawmakers pushed unsuccessfully for a smaller corporate tax increase this year). That would push the top combined corporate tax rate to a stratospheric 22%. Nor would the proceeds flow automatically to the five boroughs. It would still be 'Albany's' money. Mamdani would need to persuade lawmakers and the governor to spend the proceeds his way. He may find his friends in Albany aren't so friendly when money's involved. Compare that to North Carolina, which is phasing out its corporate tax. It's no coincidence that state has been scooping up new corporate headquarters. Or Pennsylvania, which is in the process of reducing its top corporate rate from 10% percent in 2022, to 8% this year, toward the goal of 5% in 2031. Soak-the-rich rhetoric aside, even Albany can't ignore the explosion of remote work and the danger of pushing major employers to shift operations or direct expansions elsewhere. Advertisement This isn't the only facet of tax policy Mamdani doesn't get. His other big tax increase would have city residents with incomes over $1 million pay the city an extra 2% of their earnings (on top of their Medicare, Social Security, paid family leave and state and federal income taxes). A growing body of data show people with high incomes and residences in other states limit their time in New York to reduce their exposure to the bigger bite taken by state taxes. Here's yet another wrinkle: New York taxes people on their activity in the state, even if they don't live here. By contrast, since 1999, the city levies an income tax only on its residents — and, as with the business taxes, only with Albany's blessing. Advertisement Plenty of people tolerate this extra tax, which tops out at just under 3.9%. But a two-point jump would measurably affect behavior. A couple making $1 million would avoid about $53,000 in city taxes by moving to Westchester or Nassau — up considerably from the $35,000 they would save now. That's effectively an $18,000 bonus for every millionaire earner who decamps for the 'burbs. Advertisement If Mamdani prevails, his followers will abruptly encounter fiscal realities they are ill-equipped to manage — mainly because they've been told to ignore them. Ken Girardin is a fellow of the Manhattan Institute.
