State of New York City's
Housing and Neighborhoods
2004

The State of New York City’s Housing and Neighborhoods 2004 provides an overview of housing and neighborhood conditions in the City and summarizes recent developments in policy, law, and research related to housing. The report is divided into five sections.

Executive Summary

Part I: Major Changes and Proposed Changes in Laws, Regulations or Public Policies Affecting New York City Land Use and Housing

New to the report this year, this section contains brief summaries of changes and proposed changes to laws and regulations affecting New York City land use and housing. This section covers laws enacted or regulations that became effective, as well as those proposed, between September 30, 2003 (the closing date of the 2003 State of the City’s Housing and Neighborhoods report) and December 31, 2004.

Part II: A Look Back at the Year in Affordable Housing, 2003

During 2003, New York City’s housing developers, financial institutions and advocacy groups participated in a wide variety of projects designed to expand affordable housing options for low- and moderate-income New Yorkers. This section of the State of New York City’s Housing and Neighborhoods provides a brief overview of some of the activities and projects that took place during 2003.

Part III: Recent Research Findings

The third section summarizes recent published research on subjects related to housing and community development in New York City. Topics include homelessness and housing stability; housing attainment, choice, and quality; community development and gentrification; and housing policy and regulation.

Part IV: Data on New York City’s Housing and Neighborhoods

The fourth section, the longest in the report, documents housing and social conditions for the City as a whole, for each of the five boroughs, and for either the 59 community districts or 55 sub-borough areas. Part IV contains the following chapters:

1. Housing Stock provides information on the number of housing units, homeownership rates, forms of ownership, rental vacancies, and rent regulation.
2. Housing Creation covers new units issued certificates of occupancy and the rehabilitation and construction of housing under New York City's Capital Programs. This chapter has been divided into two parts for easier downloading.
3. Housing Values presents data on monthly rents and exclusive price indices that describe the price fluctuations of 4 types of housing—condominiums, single family homes, 2-4 family homes, and 5+ unit apartment buildings.
4. Housing Affordability provides data on the share of household income that renters and owners spend for housing as well as data on public housing and Section 8 voucher units.
5. Mortgage Lending provides a picture of lending activity for home purchases and home refinance in the City, including measures of subprime lending.
6. Mortgage Foreclosures presents data on the filing of notices of foreclosure actions (lis pendens) and title transfers subsequent to these filings.
7. Property Tax Delinquencies provides data on the number of delinquent properties in tax class 1 and tax class 2, as well as delinquencies of 1 year or longer, the dollar value of tax liens, and tax lien sales.
8. Housing Quality presents indicators such as maintenance deficiencies, housing code complaints and violations, and severe crowding.
9. Land Use presents information on zoning and vacancy of New York City's lot areas.
10. Population presents population counts from the 2000 United States census as well as data on household size and length of tenure.
11. Race and Ethnicity presents race data from the 2000 census, as well as other information on Puerto Rican households.
12. Immigration contains data on the foreign-born population, languages spoken at home, and linguistic isolation.
13. Income, Public Assistance and Education includes median incomes, poverty rates, public assistance rates and adult educational attainment.
14. Business and Employment presents information on business establishments by sector, labor force participation, and unemployment rates.
15. Public Schools contains data on teachers' credentials and student performance.
16. Crime presents a snapshot of property- and violent crime rates throughout New York City.

Part V: Affordable Housing Organizations in New York City

This final section briefly describes the key organizations in New York City involved in community development, affordable housing, services for homeless families, or in policy and advocacy related to housing