Despite a nationwide trend of declining rental costs, New Yorkers continue to wrestle with soaring rents as illegal immigrants flood the city. The city’s situation contrasts with the nationwide trend, where year-over-year rent changes have either remained stable or declined for five consecutive months, primarily due to an increase in the creation of new rental units. Rents across the U.S. fell 0.7 percent this month compared to last year.
However, February saw an 18 percent surge in one-bedroom rentals in New York City, pushing the average price to a record peak of $4,200. Even in Jersey City, situated across the Hudson River from Manhattan, the median cost of rent rose 5.4 percent to $3,140. The spike in housing costs has stunned some New Yorkers who expected rents to fall as usual in the late fall and winter. Despite historic trends, the cost of housing in the Big Apple has continued to increase apace.
Heightening the housing crisis in New York City, around 200,000 illegal immigrants have arrived in the metro area via bus from the southern border over the past 18 months. This situation has ignited protests in Harlem, where locals recently discovered the city’s plans to convert a luxury building into a shelter for the rapidly ballooning number of illegal immigrants in the city.
