40% of N.Y. Tenants May Not Pay Rent This Month. What Happens Then?
The true economic toll of all but shutting down New York City to stem the spread of the coronavirus is likely to become clearer on Wednesday when April rent is due. In just a month’s time, the lives of millions of New Yorkers have been turned upside down, many of them losing their jobs and now worrying about paying their bills.
No one knows for sure how many renters in New York City will have a hard time paying, but landlords and the real estate industry say they are bracing for perhaps as many as 40 percent of tenants, if not more, skipping their April payments. There are about 5.4 million renters in the city, about two-thirds of the population. If a large share of them cannot make rent, landlords, especially smaller ones that operate on small margins, will be unable to pay their own bills, property owners said.
From New York City to Los Angeles to Seattle, renters across the country have organized rent strikes in recent days, calling on elected officials to provide immediate financial relief to tenants and threatening to withhold payments to landlords. Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York has ordered a 90-day moratorium on evictions, a lifeline to people who cannot pay rent and are worried about losing their homes during the crisis. Other states have followed New York State’s lead, including California, which introduced a 60-day ban on evictions.
