Owners of government-subsidized housing filed more than 43,000 eviction lawsuits in New York City during 2024, representing over a third of the city’s roughly 120,000 total eviction cases, according to a new report from the New York Housing Conference.
The vast majority of these filings targeted tenants for nonpayment of rent, highlighting how even residents in so-called “affordable” housing struggle to keep up with costs despite rent caps designed to help low- and middle-income families, the policy group found. As documented in a previous investigation, tenants seeking affordable housing often face significant barriers to accessing information about available units.
The analysis shows subsidized housing landlords filed over 38,000 nonpayment cases and just under 5,000 evictions for other lease violations. These properties receive property tax breaks, low-interest financing or other government funding in exchange for maintaining affordable rents.
The median back rent owed by subsidized tenants at the time of filing was less than $4,600, significantly lower than the $5,500 median for market-rate renters facing eviction, according to housing court data compiled by NYU’s Furman Center and analyzed by the conference.
“The rising cost of living or a sudden destabilizing event, like a job loss or unplanned expense, can strain a tenant’s finances and make even regulated rent hard to cover,” the report states.
New York Housing Conference Executive Director Rachel Fee attributed the surge to ongoing financial pressures stemming from early pandemic job losses, wage decreases and rising costs that many low-income renters have struggled to recover from.
The eviction filings often serve as pressure tactics to compel tenants to pay back rent or to force city intervention with emergency aid, according to the report. Nearly half of all cases were filed in the Bronx.
Fee urged state lawmakers to increase rental assistance and proposed creating a new diversion court system to speed up emergency aid distribution for tenants facing eviction. The specialized court could reach resolutions, establish payment plans and issue funding to cover rent arrears more quickly, she said.
“It’s a better outcome for the tenant, the landlord and, potentially, savings for the city of New York,” Fee said. “We really need to be thinking about comprehensive policy solutions here to make sure that once a family gets into affordable housing, they can stay there and get the support they need.”
The organization called for approximately $17 million in New York’s next state budget to establish the diversion court program.
The recommendation comes as state lawmakers have shown reluctance to expand ongoing rental assistance. Last year’s state budget included only $50 million to establish a new Housing Access Voucher Program, according to the report.
The city’s existing rental assistance program, CityFHEPS, costs more than $1 billion annually and helps over 60,000 households. However, Mayor Zohran Mamdani has declined to expand the program to cover additional low-income tenants due to its rising costs.
Financial pressures extend beyond individual tenants to building operations. Affordable housing loans to developers typically assume 95% of households will pay rent on time for landlords to meet their loan obligations. However, a separate October 2025 report cited by the conference shows rent collection rates have dropped to 90% in government-subsidized housing, with about one in 10 buildings seeing collection rates below 80%.
Tenants in affordable units, including apartments distributed through the city’s Housing Connect lottery, qualify based on income and typically pay no more than 30% of their earnings on rent.
The report notes that only a fraction of nonpayment cases result in actual evictions, as tenants often work out payment plans, receive assistance or voluntarily leave before marshals arrive. Many who leave end up in city homeless shelters.
The New York Housing Conference, which receives funding from affordable housing owners, excluded approximately 3,700 eviction filings against public housing tenants from its analysis.
