Every day, Carlos Angel makes the long trip down from his seventh-floor apartment two blocks away from Yankee Stadium.\n<\/p>\n
His dog can barely walk anymore, Angel said, so he carries him down seven flights of stairs to the lobby to use the bathroom. The routine is especially difficult because Angel recently underwent shoulder surgery himself. He also has a second dog that he takes outside several times a day.<\/p>\n
Between walking his dogs, feeding stray neighborhood cats and running errands, Angel\u00a0 estimates he climbs the stairs at least six times daily.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s like torture for me, going up the stairs, coming down is not bad, but coming up is just a nightmare every time,\u201d he said.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel so frustrated. I want to cry sometimes, but I\u2019m just like, \u2018Oh God, please help me here,\u2019\u201d he added.\n<\/p>\n
That has been his reality since Feb. 13 \u2014fittingly, Friday the 13th, he said\u2014 when a frozen pipe burst inside his building, flooding the garage and damaging the elevator\u2019s electrical system.<\/p>\n
Since then, the elevator in his rent-stabilized building has remained out of service. After months of complaints from tenants, the city eventually took over the repairs, but residents were told the work could still take several more months. <\/p>\n
In the meantime, tenants in the nine-story building have been forced to either repeatedly climb flights of stairs or remain largely confined to their apartments. Some residents even use a specialized evacuation chair to carry heavy groceries up the stairs.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Screenshot-2026-05-22-at-1.54.17-AM.jpg\")
An evacuation chair \u2014a device designed to transport physically disabled individuals down stairwells during emergencies\u2014 has become a lifeline for tenants in Carlos Angel\u2019s building, who now strap heavy items onto the chair to haul them upstairs as elevator repairs stretch on for months. Photo courtesy of Carlos Angel.<\/p>\n
Angel\u2019s building is one of many aging rent-stabilized properties across the Bronx where tenants say deteriorating conditions have become part of everyday life.<\/p>\n
Using an umbrella to go to the bathroom<\/b><\/p>\n
Mercedes Escoto still remembers holding an umbrella over her mother while helping her use the bathroom inside their apartment.<\/p>\n
Water repeatedly leaked through the ceiling of their rent-stabilized unit in Highbridge, she said, forcing Escoto and her nearly bedridden mother to navigate buckets, mold, and collapsing plaster while her mother received around-the-clock care at home.<\/p>\n
For years, Escoto said she repeatedly called her building\u2019s super and landlord to address the leaks along with inconsistent heat and hot water, vermin infestations, broken windows and persistent security issues in the building where she had lived for nearly two decades. Instead, she said, repairs were often delayed or temporarily patched before problems resurfaced again.<\/p>\n
After years of paying out of pocket for extermination treatments, apartment repairs and mounting medical expenses while working full-time as a social worker and caring for her mother, Escoto said the stress became overwhelming and in 2021, she suffered a stroke.<\/p>\n
Now retired and living alone after her mother moved in with her brother and later died, Escoto worries that another winter without reliable hot water and heat will kill her.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Screenshot-2026-05-22-at-1.59.35-AM.jpg\")
The ceiling and pipes in Mercedes Escoto\u2019s rent stabilized building\u2019s basement have rusted over the years due to repeated leaks, forcing tenants to detour around large puddles of water to reach the laundry room. Photo by Ramy Mahmoud
\nAge, neglect catching up with Bronx housing stock<\/b><\/p>\n
Across New York City, tenants living in rent-stabilized apartments say deteriorating conditions inside aging buildings are leaving residents trapped between unsafe living environments and an increasingly uncertain future.<\/p>\n
The Bronx contains some of the city\u2019s largest concentrations<\/a> of aging rent-stabilized housing stock, with many buildings constructed before 1974. Property owners say decades-old infrastructure, rising operating costs and over regulation of rents have left many buildings struggling to stay maintained.\u00a0<\/p>\n As costs climb and many buildings face growing financial strain, the future of the city\u2019s rent-stabilized housing stock has become a growing source of tension between tenants, landlords and advocates.<\/p>\n Matt Engel, president of Langsam Property Services, who oversees around 10,000 rent-stabilized units \u2014about 9,000 of them in the Bronx\u2014 said owning and operating rent-stabilized buildings has become increasingly more difficult than ever. Operating expenses, he noted, continue to outpace the rent increases approved by the Rent Guidelines Board each year, leaving property owners falling further behind financially over time, with many approaching or facing foreclosure.<\/p>\n In the Bronx, the average rent-stabilized apartment rented for $1,190 in 2024 \u2014nearly $500 less<\/a> than the citywide average\u2014 according to data analyzed by the Community Preservation Corporation.<\/p>\n At the same time, data from the Rent Guidelines Board\u2019s 2026 Income and Expense Study found the Bronx was the only borough where net operating income (NOI) \u2014a measure comparing building revenue to operating costs\u2014 declined. While NOI for rent-stabilized buildings increased<\/a> across the rest of the city, the Bronx saw a 0.1% decrease, underscoring the financial pressures facing many owners of the borough\u2019s aging housing stock.<\/p>\n Engel estimates that around 20% of the buildings he manages are in foreclosure, in default, or attempting to renegotiate or restructure their existing mortgages.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery building that is rent regulated in the Bronx is either financially insolvent now or it will be in the next three to five years,\u201d Engel said.\n<\/p>\n Landlords point to the 2019 rent laws as the most consequential blow to the value of rent-stabilized buildings, arguing that the measures restricted their ability to deregulate apartments and raise rents after tenants move out, limiting revenue they say is necessary to invest in building repairs and renovations.<\/p>\n Kenny Burgos, CEO of the New York Apartment Association, likened the laws to \u201cstate-supported redlining,\u201d warning that banks\u2019 reluctance to refinance rent-stabilized buildings could lead to widespread disinvestment reminiscent of the \u201cBronx is Burning\u201d era, when some landlords set fires to collect insurance payouts.<\/p>\n \u201cThe 2019 rent laws made it so that banks are completely unwilling to invest in these buildings or provide a loan to improve these buildings,\u201d Burgos said. \u201cA state law has effectively closed off\u00a0<\/p>\n Freeze the rent<\/b> As many rent-stabilized New Yorkers struggle to afford their housing costs, tenant advocates are intensifying calls for a rent freeze ahead of the Rent Guidelines Board\u2019s final vote this summer. The board preliminarily voted<\/a> on May 7 to consider increases ranging from 0% to 2% for one-year leases and 0% to 4% for two-year leases.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Screenshot-2026-05-22-at-2.02.58-AM.jpg\")
Community districts 4, 5, and 7 in the West Bronx contain some of the city\u2019s highest concentrations of pre-1974 buildings with mostly rent-stabilized units. These buildings rely entirely on revenue from rent, according to the NYU Furman Center. Photo by Ramy Mahmoud<\/p>\n
\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Screenshot-2026-05-22-at-2.06.25-AM.jpg\")
Tenant leaders and organizers from Tenant Bloc protest outside of the Rent Guidelines Board preliminary vote in Long Island City on May 7, calling for a rent freeze. Tenant Bloc consists of several organizations including the Met Council on Housing, Community Action for Safe Apartments (CASA), NYC-DSA, and CAAAV: Organizing Asian Communities. Photo by Marina Samuel<\/p>\n