Nearly two-thirds of NYC apartments still rent-regulated or subsidized, report says

As next week’s expiration of the state’s rent regulation laws approaches, a new state-sponsored report has revealed that nearly two-thirds of New York City’s 2 million rental apartments still enjoy regulated rental rates. According to the Post, the report, by Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, found 1.4 million rental apartments to be either rent-stabilized, publicly-owned or taxpayer-subsidized — and that’s after the roughly 10,000 units that have been deregulated over the course of the last decade.

The impending June 15 deadline for rent regulation to be renewed is threatening some 1 million New York City apartments as lawmakers, tenant advocates and landlords try to hammer out an agreement on income and monthly rent thresholds for decontrol.

Sources said a meeting between Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos last Friday brought no resolution to the debate, though landlords are said to be willing to raise decontrol thresholds if their right to deregulate apartments once they become vacant remains intact.

DiNapoli, a democrat, said in his report that median rents rose 7.2 percent across the city in 2009 to $980 per month, with 44 percent of rental households spending one-third of their income on rent. Including utilities, more than half of rental households spent a third of their income on living expenses, the report says. [Post]