New Yorkers and the Unaffordability Crisis: New Data Shows Hardships are Rising Among Moderate-Income New Yorkers
For the past 22 years, the Community Service Society of New York, in partnership with Lake Research Partners, has fielded the Unheard Third Survey to understand the experiences and hear the opinions of New Yorkers, especially low-income New Yorkers, and how to empower them in getting ahead. This survey[1] has been a primary data source to inform our research and advocacy efforts. Learnings and analysis from the survey has been instrumental in the fight to secure key wins for New Yorkers, including paid family leave, paid sick leave, Fair Fares, increases to New York’s minimum wage, tenant protections and resources, and more over the recent past.
When we fielded the survey in the summer of 2023, the city was finally shedding its pandemic era shell. Employment was growing at a steady pace and the city seemed poised to regain many of the jobs lost during the pandemic. Overall, inflation had finally cooled off from the historic highs of the previous summer, although housing costs were still rising unabated, as asylum seekers arrived en masse to New York City.
But the recovery has not been uniform. High income New Yorkers whose incomes and employment situations were largely unaffected by the pandemic have continued to thrive. Low-income New Yorkers continue to struggle through increasing hardships. But what really surprised us was the increase in hardships experienced by moderate- to middle-income New Yorkers.
Our poll results reveal that increasing numbers of moderate-income families are struggling with housing and transit costs, food insecurity, struggling to get out debt, and struggling to save up for future needs. We have not seen findings like these in the history of our survey – below are a few of the key findings that highlight this phenomenon.
Housing
In an unexpected twist over the last few years, eviction risk has grown significantly for moderate income households. As compared with our survey results on eviction risk in 2017-2019, this year’s poll showed a significant rise (14 percent) in eviction threats for moderate-to-middle income New Yorkers. Now, the majority of New Yorkers at risk of eviction come from this group.
Health
Almost 40 percent of moderate-income households reported that they could not fill a required prescription or that they skipped a recommended medical procedure because of unaffordable healthcare costs. We know that moderate income New Yorkers are generally not eligible for healthcare assistance programs, as they are only available for those with incomes up to 250 percent of FPL.
Student Debt
Of note, student loan debt was a major contributor to financial insecurity, with 63 percent of all New Yorkers with student loan debt reporting that they struggled to make a payment. Paradoxically, the gains in wages from higher education financed by student loans was especially inadequate for moderate-to-middle income New Yorkers and had left these households reeling under the burden of student loan debt; they were often forced to skip paying utility bills, reduce their savings for retirement, had their wages garnished, and as a result of missing bill payments their credit scores were lowered by credit agencies.
Transit
We published a critical report last month on transit affordability hardships, notably that moderate-middle income New Yorkers are struggling to pay for a transit fare at the same rate as low-income New Yorkers. Twenty percent of moderate-to-high income New Yorkers reported struggling to pay for transit, as did low-income New Yorkers. Fair Fares, the city’s discounted Metrocard program, could be a game changer in addressing this issue if more eligible New Yorkers could enroll in it and if the eligibility could be extended to include adult New Yorkers up to 200 percent of the FPL.
Other Economic Hardships
Also, among moderate-income households, 32 percent endured food insecurity, 28 percent could not afford childcare, and 21 percent could not afford high-speed internet in 2023.
These are staggering findings that should motivate leaders in New York City to think more about how to ease the hardships of New Yorkers across low- to middle incomes who are struggling to survive in our city, especially as the cost of living continues to rise. Of note, inequality in NYC rose for the first time in a decade this year, based on the latest census data. As our city becomes more unequal, thousands of New Yorkers will continue to be forced to leave altogether. We hope to shed light on this phenomenon and other findings from our Unheard Third Survey in the coming weeks and months.
Notes
1. For the purposes of this survey, we group New Yorkers into four categories based on their distance from the Federal Poverty Level. New Yorkers with household incomes below 100 percent of the FPL were described to be ‘in poverty’; New Yorkers with household incomes between 100 and 200 percent of the FPL were described to be in ‘near-poverty’; New Yorkers with household incomes between 200 and 400 percent of the FPL were described to be ‘moderate income’ and New Yorkers with household incomes above 400 percent of the FPL were described as ‘high income’. For the purposes of analysis of the survey data, we group all New Yorkers who fall either ‘in poverty’ or in ‘near poverty’ and classify them as ‘low-income’. For reference purposes, the FPL for a family of 2-adults and 2-children in 2023 was $30,000.