NYC will pay landlords to fix up empty apartments. No one has taken the offer.

WNYC News | Sep 13, 2025

New York City has a serious affordable housing shortage, but thousands of low-cost units are sitting empty. It's called warehousing and it gets people's blood boiling.

In 2023, Mayor Adams stepped in with a solution: The city would pay property owners up to $25,000 to put the rent-stabilized apartments back on the market.

But two and a half years later, no one has taken the offer. Now the city is doubling the payment amount.

WNYC housing reporter David Brand joins Weekend Edition host David Furst to discuss why landlords are passing on the free cash.

 

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