+ Since 2022, evictions in New York City started to surge, almost reaching pre-pandemic levels. Most notably, on January 15, 2022, the city lifted its Eviction Moratorium, which had been enacted as part of a pandemic relief effort to protect tenants from being evicted from their homes. Between 2017 and 2023, the city has recorded been more than 85,000 evictions. In 2023 alone, there were more than 13,000 evictions.
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+ For this data story, I was curious about trends in evictions between the years of 2017 and 2023 (3 years before the onset of COVID in 2020, and 3 years after). With evictions approaching pre-pandemic levels so rapidly after a pause in eviction proceedings for nearly 2 years, I was curious to see if the same neighborhoods were still burdened with evictions on comparable levels to pre-pandemic times.
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+ The Bronx has the most evictions of any borough, except for the period between 2021 and the end of 2022. Those years are marked by the Eviction Moratorium, and once that was eliminated, evictions went back up in the Bronx. In 2023, it recorded the highest number of evictions of all boroughs.
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+ One could assume that the Bronx is the most populous borough, therefore they experience the most number of evictions. However, that is not the case. The decennial census data on population by borough from NYC Open Data shows that the Bronx is the 4th most populous borough, behind Brooklyn, Queens, and Manhattan. Despite making up nearly 17% of the New York City population, the Bronx accounted for more than 32% of evictions from 2017 to 2023.
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+ For a more accurate analysis on how evictions affect each borough, the chart below compares eviction rates adjusted for population size. The data for population by borough is taken from the most recent decennial data collected in 2020. The eviction rate was calculated by looking at the total number of evictions between 2017 and 2023 that affected the population in each borough, then adjusting the number per 100,000 residents.
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If we take a closer look at the Bronx, four city council districts stand out as recording the highest number of evictions every year, except for 2020 and 2021, when COVID-19 measures were in place that restricted eviction proceedings.
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+ These four city council districts (14, 15, 16, and 17) represent the Bronx neighborhoods of Belmont, Morissania, Kingsbridge Heights, Highbridge, Hunts Point, Mott Haven, and Fordham. What makes these city council districts in the Bronx particularly prone to evictions?
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+ According to NYU Furman Center, all of the above mentioned neighborhoods have poverty levels above the poverty rate of the Bronx (27.7%), and far above the poverty rate city-wide (17.8%). The neighborhood of Belmont, belonging to city council district 15, has the highest poverty level of 38.4%. Additionally, the Bronx borough has the lowest median renter income of the whole city. Not only do renters in the Bronx have problems keeping up with rent payments, they also experience housing code violations that make their living conditions unbearable, such as leaks or mold, that often go ignored by the housing authority. There could be a relation between these issues, as seen by data that shows the districts that deal with more evictions also have to deal with more housing code violations.
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+Housing code violations are defined by the Department of Housing Preservation and Development as a violation of a rental building to maintain safe physical conditions for its residents. Violations are categorized into four classes: Class A (non-hazardous), B (hazardous), C (immediately hazardous), and I (information orders).
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+ Though many New Yorkers are facing housing challenges, such as rent increases, a housing shortage, and record-high homelessness, the burden isn't felt equally everywhere. Residents of the Bronx are disproportionately more likely to experience evictions and potentially harmful housing situations.
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