New York has long been one of the most expensive places in the country to rent. In 2024, the city’s median rent was 68% higher than the national median and ate up 39.8% of the average household’s income. 

Last year, New York ranked among the least affordable U.S. cities for people living on one income. And now, New Yorkers have paid more than ever to sign a lease this summer, while the cost of buying a home remained far out of reach.

The median asking rent in the city reached a record high of $3,785 in the third quarter, up $162, or 4.5%, from a year earlier, according to the Realtor.com 2026 Q3 NYC Rental Report released Tuesday. That is the highest level since the site began tracking the data in the second quarter of 2019, and $816, or 27.5%, above where rents stood before the pandemic.

And it’s not just renting: buying a median-priced home cost an estimated 10,737a month in the same period—6,952 more than renting.

“New York City renters are facing a difficult affordability equation: rents are rising, especially for the smaller homes many renters compete for, while the cost of buying remains dramatically higher,” said Danielle Hale, chief economist at Realtor.com. “For renters hoping to save for a down payment, the squeeze is coming from both directions.”

Read more [paywall removed for Redditors]: https://fortune.com/2026/10/27/new-york-city-rents-record-high-3785-month-outpaced-wages/?utm_source=reddit/

• Affordable housing projects in 12 community districts will bypass City Council members
• The Fast Track program shortens the approval process from seven months to 90 days

Community leaders say New York City mayor’s early efforts have failed to address the problem and in some cases made it worse

I live in a rent-regulated building in Brooklyn, and our owner has applied with DHCR to replace our 24/7 front desk staff with a remote virtual monitoring system. I know this landlord is trying it at another one of their buildings too. I understand that we have tenants rights, and I'm looking to help our building advocate for those rights.

While this could seem like a silly thing to complain about at face value, this is really an issue of safety, accessibility, and an issue of landlords performing a bait and switch services. A remote operator can't help an older neighbor through a dark stairwell or carry a stroller in during a blackout, or let the fire department in (things that have all happened in our building). Real people lose good jobs, and tenants keep paying the same rent for less.

I saw the NYT article on this and it prompted me to post on Reddit. Is this happening in your building? If you fought it, what worked? I've gotten my hands on some resources but would really appreciate hearing from anyone who's been through it.

What I'm specifically asking for: Do you have a virtual doorman and dislike the experience? Please share details if you're comfortable, it could be helpful for my case! Have you dealt with this issue? Would love to hear how it turned out! Are you going through this currently? Let me know so we can help each other! The political opinions on this are irrelevant to the case itself - our rights are what they are.

From Top left to Bottom right

Below-grade work is progressing at 1959 Jerome Avenue, the site of a 15-story mixed-use residential building in Morris Heights, The Bronx. Designed by GF55 Architects and developed by Peter Fine, the 165-foot-tall structure will span 243,007 square feet and yield 333 units with an average scope of 513 square feet. The project will also include 42,832 square feet of community facility space, 29,451 square feet of commercial space, a cellar level, one commercial loading berth, and one enclosed parking space. The property is located at the corner of Jerome and West Tremont Avenues.

The property was formerly occupied by a two-story commercial structure that housed auto shops, as seen in the below Google Street View image looking southwest at the corner. Demolition finished earlier this year and work broke ground soon afterward.

Hi all Early voting started Saturday and runs through Sunday, Nov 1. Election Day is Tue, Nov 3. I pulled this together so nobody has to dig through ten tabs.

The basics

• Your early voting site is assigned to you. It can be different from your Election Day site.
• Look yours up here: findmypollsite.vote.nyc
• Hours change by day:
  • Mon 10/26: 9am–5pm
  • Tue 10/27 and Wed 10/28: 10am–8pm
  • Thu 10/29: 8am–4pm
  • Fri 10/30, Sat 10/31, Sun 11/1: 9am–5pm
• Election Day polls are open 6am–9pm. If you’re in line by 9, you can vote.
• ID: only first-time voters who didn’t give ID when they registered need to show it.
• The registration deadline was Oct 24. If you missed it, you can’t register for this one.
• Early mail ballot: the online/mail request deadline passed. You can still request one in person at your borough Board of Elections office through Nov 2. Mail ballots must be postmarked by Nov 3 and arrive by Nov 10.
• Problems at the polls? The NY Attorney General runs a hotline: 1-212-416-9818, or file a complaint online.

The five ballot questions

You have to flip your ballot over to see these. They’re all small changes to the City Charter, the city’s rulebook. They came out of a commission Mayor Mamdani set up to cut red tape.

1. Public space (outdoor dining, benches, ramps). Makes the permit process faster. Hearings become optional. Citizens Union supports it. Common Cause opposes it. They say it removes chances for the public to weigh in.
2. City contracting. Less paperwork for nonprofits and small businesses that work with the city. Most reform groups support it. Some nonprofits doubt it will help much.
3. Street safety, city property, office leases. Faster review for bike and bus lane projects. Easier sale of small unused city lots. Most good-government groups support it. The Municipal Art Society opposes it.
4. Building permits. One central permit hub run by the Department of Buildings. Basically nobody opposes this one.
5. Rainy day fund. Sets a target of 12% of last year’s tax revenue. The fund is around 2% now. It’s the most contested one. The Citizens Budget Commission says it’s too weak. Citizens Union and Common Cause say it’s better than nothing.

Official summaries for each: NYC Votes ballot proposals

One voter’s picks

Sumana Harihareswara wrote up recommendations on her blog. She’s one person, so take it as one opinion.

• Prop 1: Yes (why)
• Prop 2: Yes, but follow up (why)
• Prop 3: No (why)
• Prop 4: Yes (why)
• Prop 5: No (why)

Queens judges, from her judicial candidates post:

• Supreme Court, 11th Judicial District (3 seats): Edwin Novillo, Oma Phillips, and a weak rec for Gail Adams
• Civil Court, Queens County (3 seats): Edmond Wong, Jasmine Valle-Bueno, and maybe Thomas Barra. The author mostly wants to keep Julie Milner out and is open to persuasion.
• Civil Court, 2nd Municipal District: Janet Keller
• Civil Court, 3rd Municipal District: Michelle McSweeney-Ortiz

Want the policy detail? Bill Bruno wrote a two-page summary and a five-page analysis.

More reading

• NYC Votes: ballot proposals
• League of Women Voters NYC
• Hell Gate: crash course
• Gothamist: outdoor dining and bike lanes
• City & State cheat sheet

The owner of the AMC movie theater in Kips Bay is pleading to keep the curtain from falling on the beloved Manhattan cinema — but says NYU just wants them gone.

The 15-screen movie house, located in a two-story retail strip at Second Ave. and 31st St., is slated to close Jan. 3 to make way for a new medical facility for NYU Langone Health System, whose mothership NYU Langone Hospital sits just a block to the east. NYU is expected to close on a deal to buy the property by next year.

“AMC Theatres does not want to go. Not one little bit,” AMC CEO Adam Aron says in an open letter to the Kips Bay community “AMC Theatres wants to stay in Kips Bay.”

The cinema CEO’s lengthy letter goes on to say that the movie theater, which has been there for 27 years, “will soon be forced against our will to close its doors.”

“Unfortunately, the decision to retain or end AMC’s tenure in Kips Bay is not ours to make,” Aron writes. “The nearby NYU Langone Health facility wants to expand, seems to be in the process of buying the building in which your (our) theatre now operates, and it wants us gone. In anticipation of such a transfer to NYU Langone, the current building’s owner has terminated our lease.

“We have engaged with NYU Langone, suggesting any number of alternatives — including that it enlarge the current low-rise building to satisfy its desires for a growth of its medical facility but also leaving a theatre in place for you. Or alternatively, we offered that our theatre could get smaller, so that at the very least we could leave something remaining in place to continue to serve you. Sadly, any and all variations that we have proposed have fallen on closed minds.”

Local elected officials are also on board with saving the cinema, joining a rally with community groups outside the cineplex last month. Keeping a supermarket at the site is another top concern for locals: The property currently has a Fairway supermarket on its basement level.

“Any proposed rezoning must deliver what this neighborhood needs: a movie theater, a supermarket and housing,” Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal said. “Kips Bay deserves all three, and I’ll fight to make it happen.”

Local elected officials have been meeting with NYU to try to influence its plans for the site, Councilwoman Virginia Maloney told The News.

“This is a huge loss for that neighborhood fabric that is getting harder and harder to find,” Maloney said. “Too many of these community anchors and shared spaces across New York, we’re losing them.”

A recent Pew poll found less than half of Americans reported visiting a movie theater in the past year. Yet, despite the trend of at-home streaming reducing moviegoing, the AMC Kips Bay 15 has been doing great, Aron said. This past summer saw record-breaking revenue at the East Side theater. On several days, it was among AMC’s 10 most-attended cinemas among its 500 U.S. theaters.

“But time is short,” Aron writes. “Unless NYU Langone Health lets us delight the Kips Bay community beyond then, to comply with our terminated lease, the lights on AMC Kips Bay 15 will forevermore see their final sunset on January 3, a mere two and a half months from now.”

NYU Langone did not immediately respond to a request for comment.