> “There is a subset of people, maybe the smallest subset, who are literally making a choice not to pay rent, and we don’t do well with acknowledging that but there is a subset for whom that is the case,” [...] Others bristle at the notion that some tenants are not paying rent just because they may be able to get away with it.

These people absolutely exist. To pretend that they don't is willful ignorance. They are, however, indeed a "small[est] subset" to quote the gentleman in the article. In the era of $4 McDoubles and $6 gallons of gas I have trouble believing that one in four people is my burnout college roommate who spends on Fireball shots and Xbox games instead of paying rent. Life is expensive these days.

i occasionally come across some of the forums and online groups of landlords and the things they have to deal with, particularly in cities with strong protections for the tenants and its interesting to watch the perspectives.

on one hand i feel for some of the landlords who have to deal with some of the very real slacks who go out of their way to be difficult tenants.

on the other we’re talking about homes, by this i mean to stress home over investment. i think we’ve made a terrible mistake in incentivizing people to use homes as an investment. it should be difficult to evict someone from their home, and it should be risky and a pain in the ass to use someone else’s home as an investment.

i feel bad for _some_ of the landlords but from a larger societal perspective we’re going to look back at incentivizing so many people to invest as a landlord as a massive mistake.

> We have to consider what the unintended consequences are of public policies or practices where there are no immediate consequences for someone who falls behind on rent

> Many [landlords] say they don’t actually intend to evict anyone, but that filing these cases is the most expedient way to get emergency rental aid from the city.

Economics in one easy lesson: incentives matter.

It sounds like an ad-hoc rent strike. Not a great sign for an economy.

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I'd say rent collections are down because those who play with the thought of 'rent striking' are more inclined to do so now that a 'democratic socialist' has been voted into power on a wave of 'rent freeze' and 'bad evil landlords versus oppressed renters' rhetoric. I'm pretty sure the Politico writers realise this as well but they seem hesitant to say so, probably because it is a bit too much on the nose. The woman standing to the right of Mamdani (left on the photo) is Cea Weaver, appointed by him to the post of "executive director of the Mayor's Office to Protect Tenants". She's quite a piece of work, a typical 'progressive' activist who has called for the seizure of private property and linked home ownership to white supremacy. With someone like that in the position she now holds it comes as no surprise that more people are thinking twice before signing that rent cheque.

People can't afford to live and food comes before paying your landlord? Economy is fucked right now. Income inequality pushes any gains into the hands of the wealthy.

And frankly, more and more people are willing to stuff their landlord if they feel their landlord isn't holding up their end of the deal.