Fortunately for the unrelated roommates, that is, because in NYC the housing code prohibits more than three to live under the same roof. By one estimate, that would make at least 15,000 units illegal. This article looks at several of them.
NYC is not alone in occupancy codes that are designed to prevent crowding, a measurement of residents per rooms in a dwelling unit (as opposed to density, which is units per acre). However, these laws may be arcane in cities of exceedingly high housing costs that attract young people as well as immigrants of limited income.
"New York, home to some of the nation's highest rents and more than eight million people, many of them single, it is illegal for more than three unrelated people to live in an apartment or a house. The law, for decades part of the city's Housing Maintenance Code, is little known, widely broken and infrequently enforced.
The lax enforcement might not be a bad thing, since a sizable number of the city's denizens. According to the Census Bureau's 2008 American Community Survey, nearly 15,000 dwellings in the city housed three or more roommates who were unrelated to the head of the household. Experts say that number is almost certainly underreported.
Jerilyn Perine, a former city housing commissioner and the executive director of the nonprofit Citizens Housing and Planning Council, said occupancy laws should be determined not by whether people were related, but by whether a unit was safely inhabited, whether by four people or more."
FULL STORY: In New York, Breaking a Law on Roommates
The Consequences of Sprawl: Overcrowded Housing and Covid Deaths
Los Angeles is the nation's capital of both crowding and sprawl. A feature published by the Los Angeles Times provides the history of how the metropolis achieved this contradiction.
Disneyland Is Too Crowded. Is More Capacity Needed?
Disneyland has a plan to create more supply to meet contemporary demand, a strategy reminiscent of contemporary debates surrounding housing and transportation.
Los Angeles Mayor Blames COVID Outbreak on Density
Appearing on a Sunday news show, Mayor Eric Garcetti noted that the Los Angeles metropolitan region is the nation's densest and one of two primary reasons why "we're seeing a person every six seconds contract COVID-19 here in Los Angeles County."
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
Canada vs. Kamala: Whose Liberal Housing Platform Comes Out on Top?
As Canada votes for a new Prime Minister, what can America learn from the leading liberal candidate of its neighbor to the north?
The Five Most-Changed American Cities
A ranking of population change, home values, and jobs highlights the nation’s most dynamic and most stagnant regions.
San Diego Adopts First Mobility Master Plan
The plan provides a comprehensive framework for making San Diego’s transportation network more multimodal, accessible, and sustainable.
Housing, Supportive Service Providers Brace for Federal Cuts
Organizations that provide housing assistance are tightening their purse strings and making plans for maintaining operations if federal funding dries up.
Op-Ed: Why an Effective Passenger Rail Network Needs Government Involvement
An outdated rail network that privileges freight won’t be fixed by privatizing Amtrak.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
New York City School Construction Authority
Village of Glen Ellyn
Central Transportation Planning Staff/Boston Region MPO
Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS)
City of Grandview
Harvard GSD Executive Education
Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada
Toledo-Lucas County Plan Commissions