u/Powerful_Particular2

i’ve been apartment hunting (downtown / lower manhattan) and something just doesn’t add up to me

on one hand:

everything decent is insanely expensive

anything remotely affordable gets taken immediately

inventory feels super tight

but at the same time:

i keep hearing there are a lot of rent-stabilized units sitting vacant?

and i’ve definitely seen buildings with units that seem to just sit there

is that actually true? and if so, why wouldn’t those just get fixed up and rented out?

i started looking into it a bit more and it sounds like under current rules, in some cases it doesn’t make financial sense to renovate and re-rent certain units — so they just stay off the market

which seems… like a huge problem if we’re also talking about needing more housing?

also curious how people think this connects (if at all) to everything else going on:

rising rents

fewer options

just generally feeling like it’s getting harder to find a place and stay in the city

i was looking into one of the local assembly races and saw a candidate (corinne arnold) talking a lot about this exact issue — like fixing the system so existing units actually come back online, not just building more or freezing rents

also noticed she has experience managing a 500+ unit building, which i guess gives some perspective on why units might sit vacant in the first place

not saying that’s the full answer, but it was the first time i saw someone connect the “no apartments available” problem with the “units sitting empty” thing

am i misunderstanding how this works? would be curious if anyone here has more insight, especially people who’ve dealt with stabilized units or building management

i’m in a co-op downtown and over the past couple years it just feels like everything is getting tighter at the same time

maintenance keeps creeping up

underlying costs (insurance, labor, etc) are rising

some units sit empty longer than you’d expect

and it feels like there’s not much support or even recognition of co-ops in policy conversations

i get that a lot of the focus is on renters vs landlords, but co-ops are kind of this weird middle space that doesn’t really get talked about

one thing i’ve been trying to understand better:

i keep hearing that a lot of rent-stabilized units across the city are sitting vacant because the numbers don’t work to renovate them under current rules

if that’s true, does that indirectly affect co-ops too?

like less overall supply → more pressure on everything else → higher costs across the board?

also curious how people here are thinking about quality of life stuff lately:

e-bikes / delivery traffic

congestion around busier areas

general wear and tear on neighborhoods

it all kind of adds up when you’re paying into a building and thinking long-term

i was looking into the assembly race and came across corinne arnold — one thing that stood out is she’s actually managed a 500+ unit building for years, so she seems to understand how these costs and pressures play out in real life

she’s also been talking about how co-ops/condos and the middle class are kind of missing from the broader housing conversation, which honestly tracks with how this all feels lately

not saying she has all the answers, but it was the first time i saw someone with that kind of direct building-level experience even acknowledge this space

curious if others here are seeing similar pressures or if this is more building-specific