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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 7, 2003
PR- 041-03
www.nyc.gov


MAYOR MICHAEL R. BLOOMBERG RELEASES INITIAL FINDINGS
OF 2002 NEW YORK CITY HOUSING AND VACANCY SURVEY

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) Commissioner Jerilyn Perine today released the initial results of the 2002 New York City Housing and Vacancy Survey (HVS).  The 2002 HVS reports that the number of vacant rental units in New York City was 61,265 and the citywide rental vacancy rate was 2.94 percent during the period between February and June 2002.  The rental vacancy rate is significantly lower than the 5 percent threshold mandated by state law to justify the continuation of rent control and rent stabilization. 

The survey also reports that the City’s total inventory of residential units was 3.2 million, the largest housing stock since the first HVS was conducted in 1965.  The 2002 HVS also reports that housing conditions, and particularly building conditions, in the City were the best since the HVS started covering them. The survey is conducted by the U.S. Bureau of the Census at the request of the City of New York every three years.

“The 2002 survey shows that the City has improved housing conditions,” said Mayor Bloomberg. “Twenty years ago, few people viewing the devastated neighborhoods of Harlem, the South Bronx, and Central Brooklyn could imagine the renaissance these neighborhoods have experienced. Today, with help from the City government, the neighborhoods have been revitalized and the communities renewed.  However, we still face the problems of a serious housing shortage, affordability, and crowding because the City is a desirable place to live.

"In order to address these problems, I announced a housing plan to increase new housing production throughout the City which includes preserving the existing affordable housing units. Specifically, let me be clear that I support the rent regulation laws as they exist today."

“The Mayor’s $3 billion housing plan, The New Housing Marketplace:  Creating Housing for the Next Generation, will create and preserve more than 65,000 homes and apartments in the City’s neighborhoods in the next five years,” Commissioner Perine said. “The Mayor’s vision for Lower Manhattan includes another 10,000 units of housing.”

Viewed at its most basic, the survey is a report required every three years by State and City rent regulation laws and is designed to determine New York City’s overall vacancy rate for rental housing.  Considered more broadly, it is the most comprehensive housing market survey conducted in any city in the United States.  The 2002 HVS is the first survey following the decennial census.  Before the end of the year, we expect the Census Bureau to revise prior HVS data that will be comparable with 2002 HVS data so that we may analyze trends and changes in New York City’s housing market over the last three decades.

The comprehensive final report on the 2002 Housing and Vacancy Survey will be released early next year by HPD, the department that commissioned the survey on behalf of the City of New York.

Initial findings of the survey indicate that:


 

www.nyc.gov

Contact: Edward Skyler / Jennifer Falk 
(212) 788-2958
 
  Carol Abrams  ( HPD )
(212) 863-5176