In the background of the aesthetics and festivities this holiday season, thousands of New Yorkers continue to lack the basic comforts the average middle-class American takes for granted.
A recent data report from Advocates for Children New York revealed that roughly 146,000 students enrolled in the New York City public school system experience homelessness. That record high increased upon last year’s record number of 119,300, and a number that has exceeded 100,000 for the ninth straight year in the five boroughs.
In the wealthiest city in one of the wealthiest countries on earth, one in eight children lack the basic necessities of a shelter they can call their own.
An increasing number of public figures are quick to point to the recent influx of migrants as the culprit. And while the over 200,000 migrants that have entered the city since 2022 haven’t helped matters, this trend extends well before this.
The most prominent reason stems from those who symbolically embody what New York City was and is: capital owners, particularly landlords.
The renting crisis has spread all around the country, and New York City is one of the most egregious examples. From 2019 to 2023, rent saw a 27.5% increase while the average wage only increased by 11%, and over 50% of renters in the city pay at least 30% of their pre-tax income on their housing. For those with school-age children, compiling these realities with having to pay for other necessities as well as your kid and the staggering homeless number for students becomes a little more explainable.
Random immigrants from the southern border don’t have the power to magically make all this happen. In the name of profit, those in real estate have commodified a basic human necessity.
Yet the inhumanity of this doesn’t seem to register with the average American. This process has become normalized by these same investors who play into the longing for wealth and prosperity the average American develops because — ironically enough — of the material strife they face as a result of greed and profit-seeking.
Those in positions of power need to shed light on this reality adequately, Specifically New York City Mayor Eric Adams. As if his laundry list of mismanagement and corruption didn’t extend far enough, the city’s most powerful man has received a significant amount of backing monetarily from prominent figures in NYC real estate. The Cayres’, the family that owns the firm Midtown Equities, and the Gindis’, owners of Gindi Equities, are two of the more prominent ones.
The situation is grim across the board, but things don’t have to be this way.
Cities within some of our European counterparts have seen great success after allocating adequate funds to affordable housing.
The local government of Vienna, Austria has a robust social housing program, owning roughly 58% of the city’s apartments. Because publicly owned programs lack a profit motive, the city’s renters have paid significantly less on average than most major European Union cities like London, which itself already has cheaper rents than NYC.
If awareness is raised concerning the greed that has been normalized and glorified, NYC can become the Vienna of the U.S.
Whether real estate greed represents “free enterprise” or not, it’s immoral. And a city with the rich history and reputation of New York cannot stand for it any longer.
Every child deserves a home for the holidays. The “greatest city in the world” needs to start living up to its name.
