When the City Council took the bold step to pass what is today Local Law 18 several years ago, there was nothing but good intent. Past and present members, faced with a historic affordability and housing crisis, enacted regulations on short-term rentals to curb illegal hotels and investors who took much needed housing off the market for hardworking New Yorkers.
Yet, with any legislation, Local Law 18 has presented unintended consequences that have actually made the city less affordable for New Yorkers. That’s because New Yorkers have lost a vital tool that allows them to supplement the growing costs of homeownership. This current Council has a historic opportunity, however, to make minor changes to the existing law — not wipe it out or even water it down — that will put this tool back in the hands of those struggling to make ends meet.
Before we examine those changes, it’s important to fully understand how we have gotten to this point. New York City has spent generations watching the cost of living rise and its housing stock shrink due to a myriad of factors — far too many to explain in one single piece. This dynamic has played a key role in the mass exodus of New Yorkers, with upwards of 200,000 Black residents departing for other cities or regions over the last 25 years. More are certainly to follow them west or to the south, with housing being the key driver for 90% of New Yorkers who mull leaving the city.
Ask any of the 268 owners whose homes were foreclosed on in 2023 just in Council District 46, where both of these authors live, and they will agree with that factor. New York City’s homeownership sits at a mere 30% but only 19% for single-family homes. Even this small share, which is far below the statewide average, is at risk with rising mortgage costs, climbing utility bills, and brutal tax bills. Nearly 20 years after the financial crisis rocked our nation, its ghosts continue to haunt the streets from Flatlands to Bainbridge Avenue. What 40 or 50 years ago was the American Dream for New Yorkers has morphed into a complete nightmare — with the thought of homeownership seeming virtually out of reach.
The affordability crisis is only matched by those facing renters. The letter of Local Law 18 was to heavily regulate short-term rentals in New York City. It was done in the spirit of stopping investors from scooping up the scarce number of units for a city of 8.5 million to instead use as short-term rentals. Local Law 18 was well intentioned to bring down rents and preserve what little housing stock we have. Yet two years in, rents have instead climbed 9.1% since this law took effect, compared to 5.3% nationally, according to Zillow.
Now we won’t be able to solve the rental crisis overnight, nor can we with one single piece of legislation, but we do have the power at this moment to give relief to homeowners. That’s because Local Law 18 severely limited one- and two-family homeowners’ ability to do short-term rentals. It was never the intent of the law to put stringent rules on homeowners in which they can only host up to two guests, be present at the time, and be barred from the basic right to put locks on their private spaces.
What has been proposed before the City Council are simple fixes to deliver some relief and to let homeowners leverage their most valuable asset to earn some supplemental income. Intro. 948A would enable homeowners to host up to four guests, even if they are not present, as well as the dignity to put locks on their personal bedrooms, home offices, and other spaces. Changes under this bill would not at all impact the hotel industry or workers but be an opportunity for homeowners in Canarsie and Mill Basin. It would allow people like us — who have been single parents who struggled to make ends meet — get by at a time when the cost of practically everything has skyrocketed.
People often talk of outer borough residents as the lifeblood of New York City. They note how we power our economy, often walking thankless jobs that keep this amazing city moving. Just like Flatbush Avenue, this has to be a two-way street. Our outer borough homeowners deserve the ability to keep the properties they worked sometimes decades to afford.
We cannot let fearmongering or misinformation scare us into paralysis. Too many New Yorkers are relying on action right now, because they realize a lack of it will drive us further into the affordability crisis. A tangible step is before the City Council right now, and we must take it if we want this to remain a vibrant New York.
Council Member Narcisse represents City Council District 46, where Damis is a short-term rental-host.
