New Yorkers are forced to reach even deeper into their pockets to shell out cash for higher rents, according to a new study.
As the Wall Street Journal reports, 29 percent of households in the city now spend at least half of their income on their rents. That’s up from 26 percent in 2008.
Meanwhile, the cost of rent has also jumped to $1,100 per month from the median cost of $950 in 2008, according to Community Service Society.
NYC’s Rent Guidelines Board will vote tomorrow on whether to increase the cost of rent-stabilized apartments in the city. The price increase could be between 1.75 and 6.75 percent for New York’s one million rent-stabilized units.
“In this downturn, people’s incomes have gone down, but it’s not like their expenses are going down,” Jonathan Bowles, executive director of the Center for an Urban Future, told the WSJ. “In a lot of other downturns, New York often trailed the rest of the country in the recovery. Now New York has as many or more jobs than other places in the country, so people may be hanging on.” 
