New York City housing shortage (original) (raw)

For many decades, the New York metropolitan area has suffered from an increasing shortage of housing. As a result, New York City has the second-highest rents of any city in the United States. Shortage has long been usual. World War I and World War II left housing shortages that persisted in peacetime. Decades later, according to the Plan for New York City of 1969, "It is obvious that a great deal is wrong. The air is polluted. The streets are dirty and choked. The subways are jammed. The waters of the rivers and bays are fouled. There is a severe shortage of housing."