Two years since its launch, the HPD's $50,000 incentive to fix up run-down rent-stabilized apartments has no takers
A city government program meant to incentivize landlords into putting apartments back on the market by subsidizing their renovation is falling flat. Dubbed "Unlocking Doors," the Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) has been offering up to $25,000 in reimbursement for work done on empty rent-stabilized units since April 2023, provided that they go to low-income tenants with housing vouchers. Gothamist reports that only one landlord in the city had shown any interest in the program but that even that fell through.
The causes for the program's failure are a contested issue. Through a spokesperson, the HPD has stated that the lack of takers is that "there are very few, low-cost, rent-stabilized apartments" in the city. The program may not have been casting a wide enough net, however, as it also requires that the apartments landlords might use to take part have their rent capped at $1,200 a month for a one-bedroom and $1,400 for a three-bedroom. According to a report from the city's Rent Guidelines Board, the media rent of rent stabilized apartments in 2024 was $3,105. Earlier this year, the HPD announced that it was increasing the reimbursement for Unlocking Doors participants to $50,000.
Beyond the potential problems with the scope of the program, the major issue that has been a source of conflict for years is the overall housing stock, as tenants have accused landlords of keeping rent-stabilized apartments - whose prices can only be raised marginally unless approved by the state - deliberately empty and off the market. The city's Independent Budget Office estimated in 2023 that 13,000 such units have been empty for at least two years, based on their self-reporting to the state. Another tally done through the New York City housing and vacancy survey found that 26,310 rent-stabilized apartments across the city were "vacant but unavailable to rent," a figure that some advocates consider a baseline.
Some landlords who spoke to Gothamist claimed that they did not trust getting the reimbursement on the back end after spending on improvements. "Maybe you go through all this stuff and the new mayor takes it all away, or they take the tenant's voucher away," one landlord with three buildings in the Bronx told Gothamist. New York City also has the unfortunate reputation of being slow to make payments, a frustrating fact that has caused problems for the city's nonprofits providing critical services.
Nonetheless, the main reason why the Unlocking Doors program was created to address this issue is because it appeared to be the right fix, based on what landlords themselves argued in recent years when challenged on the issue of apartments left vacant. Some have cited a 2019 change in regulation that limited their ability to raise rents on recently-vacated spaces, with one attorney representing landlords arguing that the new law "made it impossible to bring [...] apartments back to market" given the cost of repairs and renovations made on units vacated by long-term tenants.
Samuel Stein, a housing policy analyst at the Community Service Society, thinks this gives away the game. "Landlords made a really big deal about this alleged problem. The city gave them this program and only two applied," he told Gothamist, adding that he believes the drive for higher rents outweighs their willingness to fix up worn-out units, even with a $50,000 incentive. "If this is a real problem, why aren't landlords taking the option to solve it?"