The Impact of New York City Real Estate Prices on the Middle and Lower Classes

The following report represents a comprehensive survey of literature pertaining to escalating real estate prices in New York City. The focus of the report is how increasingly expensive real estate prices for both sales and rentals are impacting the middle and lower-classes residing in the five-boroughs of New York City. The report includes an introduction that discusses the current affordable housing crisis in New York City, including factors responsible for it like the flight of many developments from subsidized affordable housing programs like Mitchell-Lama and Limited Development. An extensive literature review is then presented, one that discusses relevant factors impacting the lack of access to affordable housing for middle and lower-class residents. These include: New York City socioeconomics; real estate prices; the impact of Mitchell-Lama and Limited Dividend programs; plans for developing affordable housing; restrictions on affordable housing; and the business impact of the affordable housing crisis. A synthesis then presents the most significant factors that are reviewed in the literature that contribute to the current affordable housing crisis. Conclusions are then offered which posit a great deal of responsibility for the crisis on current administration policies and programs. A list of recommendations is then provided as a means for policymakers to resolve the a

. . .
ave driven up prices in these areas by 22 percent in a short space of time (Croghan 1999). Scarcity of housing and inflated prices have led to another situation for those who need to rent affordable housing. As prices continue to escalate, even expensive housing units are often located in high crime neighborhoods or are on the market despite problems from lead paint to rat infestations. Dann Florek, an actor on the popular TV show Law & Order, explains the difficulty of finding affordable and safe in the same housing unit, ôIÆve seen places I think are awful. I mean rate holes that people pay $150,000 for. And people are lining up for themö (Mohr 2000, A10). The quality of many housing units in New York City is inferior when compared to prices that keep escalating. From lead paint and rat infestations to units that require significant improvements, many housing units are hundreds of thousands of dollars and fall far below those in other areas in terms of quality. Even so, areas once considered a bargain compared to housing in Manhattan are keeping pace with the borough in terms of rental and sales prices. Brooklyn Heights and Park Slope were once considered less expensive options over Manhattan, but Leas (2001) maintains
. . .

Some common words found in the essay are:
York City, Limited Development, Glaeser Gyourko, York CityÆs, Development Corp, Bill Perkins, Mayor BloombergÆs, affordable housing, Bill Clinton, York Business, york city, Limited Dividend, real estate, middle lower-class, lower-class residents, middle lower-class residents, thompson 2004, real estate prices, housing prices, estate prices, housing units, access affordable, access affordable housing, units affordable housing, affordable housing middle,
Approximate Word count = 9923
Approximate Pages = 40 (250 words per page)

More Essays on The Impact of New York City Real Estate Prices on the Middle and Lower Classes