Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
NYC Evictions Are At Their Lowest In A Decade
By
Nathan Tempey
Published Mar 1, 2016
Modified Mar 1, 2016
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
By
Nathan Tempey
Published Mar 1, 2016
Modified Mar 1, 2016
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Evictions are down to their lowest rate in a decade after two years of increased funding for free tenant attorneys, according to the tenant rights group Housing Court Answers [pdf]. Last year, 21,988 households were evicted, down from 26,857 the years prior, and close to the 21,945 of 2005. That's still 60 evictions a day, but it is substantially lower than the 28,849 in 2013, Michael Bloomberg's last year in office.
The change follows the city committing $46 million to tenant legal services, providing lawyers to some but not nearly all tenants coming through housing court.
"The money the city put in for lawyers is working," Judge Fern Fisher told the New York Times.
Mayor de Blasio has made rental vouchers, emergency rent subsidies for tenants at risk of eviction, and attorneys to combat tenant harassment cornerstones of his efforts to staunch the flow of New Yorkers into homelessness.
"Some combination of things is working," de Blasio told reporters at a press conference yesterday.
For some background, 42 percent of New York renters are considered "rent-burdened," meaning they put more than 30 percent of their income towards rent [pdf]. Of those, half are "severely rent-burdened," paying more than half of their income. Landlord attorneys typically bring eviction cases over alleged nonpayment, and tenants, who may be withholding rent because of exploding electrical sockets or roach infestations, or whose rent checks the management company may not be cashing, face an uphill battle in trying to advocate for themselves, as people in civil court do not have the right to an attorney. This can push the full financial burden of housing the at-risk families onto city taxpayers, whose homeless shelters are at a record population of nearly 60,000.
As the New Yorker wrote recently in its wide-angle look at eviction:
When tenants have legal representation, their chances of keeping their homes increase dramatically. A program that ran in the South Bronx from 2005 to 2008, for example, provided legal assistance to more than thirteen hundred families and prevented eviction in more than eighty-five per cent of the cases, saving New York City hundreds of thousands of dollars in estimated shelter costs.
Several legal services organizations provide free legal help to tenants, and they've been able to dramatically up their headcount with the mayor's additional funding. A Legal Services NYC manager said that his organization alone has added 90 housing staffers since de Blasio took office, most of them attorneys. The lawyers are able to help develop back rent payment plans, dispute overcharges, and fight back in instances of neglected maintenance and harassment.
A lawyer for the rent-stabilized landlord lobbying group the Rent Stabilization Association claimed that eviction is not the goal of filing eviction papers, getting paid rent money is. The lawyer, Mitchell Posilikin, told the Times that the decrease in evictions is "only a movement in the right direction if it means that owners are receiving the rent they need to operate their buildings."
Tagged
affordable housing
bill de blasio
eviction
housing court
legal services
poverty
rent stabilization association
right to an attorney
tenant harassment
tenant lawyers
Nathan Tempey
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
Manhattan DA charges woman with stealing $25K in immigration fraud scheme
The accused allegedly pretended to be a federal tax agent, an immigration agent and an immigration services provider.
By
Arya Sundaram
Published Oct 15, 2026 at 10:34 a.m. ET
Modified Oct 15, 2026 at 10:45 a.m. ET
NYC lawmaker wants dedicated NYPD units to combat chaotic car meetups
Police say dedicated weekend teams already operate in every borough. A Queens-based city councilmember wants to formalize the response.
By
Charles Lane
News
NYC lawmaker wants dedicated NYPD units to combat chaotic car meetups
Police say dedicated weekend teams already operate in every borough. A Queens-based city councilmember wants to formalize the response.
By
Charles Lane
Early Addition: NYC comptroller backs off investing city pension funds in Israel bonds
By
James Ramsay
NYPD investigating after 5-year-old Queens girl found dead
By
Brittany Kriegstein
Hochul, Blakeman offer opposing visions for jobs to stem New York exodus
By
Jimmy Vielkind
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .