Median Rent Dropped in This New York Suburb Since 2020. How Did They Do it?

Unlike most U.S. communities, the New York City suburb of New Rochelle has managed to build thousands of new housing units and keep rents down for its residents, reports Rebecca Picciotto in The Wall Street Journal.

According to Pinniotto, “New Rochelle has completed more than 4,500 new housing units over the past decade. Another 6,500 units are either in the pipeline or the planning stages for the next several years. Those 11,000 new units would represent a 37% increase in the number of New Rochelle apartments compared with 10 years ago.”

Today, median rents in New Rochelle are only 1.6 percent higher than in 2020. City officials say they have made housing development easier by streamlining environmental reviews, offering tax incentives, and standardizing zoning rules to reduce the cost of building housing. Projects also have a 90-day approval process to ensure proposals that meet city criteria move forward even in the face of local opposition.

Some residents say the new development prices out most locals, despite the city’s requirement that 10 percent of new housing be affordable. “Many of the newcomers are from New York City, where more residents are finding themselves priced out. One in three of the more than 7,000 incoming New Rochelle residents are from New York City, the highest rate from anywhere, according to municipal data.”