Long Island – the suburban hinterland of New York City (map here) – was ground zero for the post-war housing boom. Specifically, Levittown, and its many variations.
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A new report from the Regional Plan Association – “Long Island’s Rental Housing Crisis” – makes the case that the suburban counties of Nassau and Suffolk have failed to keep pace with housing trends since.
From the New York Times:
For years, government officials, housing advocates and real estate executives on Long Island have warned about the exodus of young people, not to mention the difficulty of housing lower-wage earners.
But the Regional Plan Association report draws some tough conclusions. “The shortage of affordable rental homes is already straining Long Island’s economy and will make it much harder to compete for jobs in the years ahead,” it said. …
Long Island’s 4 percent vacancy rate is also at the low end of the scale, putting pressure on rents, which average $1,490 a month in counties where income has steadily declined, according to the report.
Blame for the problem can be laid at the feet of many of the island’s nearly 100 village governments, whose zoning bans have severely restricted multifamily housing, said Christopher Jones, the vice president of research for the Regional Plan Association and an author of the report.
By contrast, in New Jersey, there’s been a spike in the construction of rental housing since the state’s Supreme Court ruled in the early 1980s that municipalities could not use zoning to exclude lower-income people — and by extension, often, minorities — from wealthy areas.
Fun fact: more than half of all 20- to 34-year-olds on Long Island still live with their parents.
