NYC Is City With Most Inadequate Housing In The Country: Study

NEW YORK, NEW YORK — From water leaks, to mice scurrying around, to a really, really cold apartment, a new study has found that New Yorkers deal with more inadequate housing than any other city in the country.

A new study from contracting company Porch found that New York City was the top city in the country for home inequalities, or the number of residences that have some level of troubled housing. The study, that analyzed Census data on housing quality, found that 7 percent of residences in New York City had inadequate housing on some level, whether that be mold, water leaks, vermin, exposed wires or dealing with unbearably cold conditions.

"No American city boasts immaculate housing stock, but some urban centers have particularly urgent problems," the report wrote, noting that many of the top inadequate housing cities are also the most expensive. "With rents in these cities reaching record highs, troubled housing may be the only affordable option for many residents."

The study aimed to look at not only what kind of inadequate housing was most common, but who was most likely to be living in these conditions.

It ultimately found that, across the country, housing quality issues are vastly unequal along racial and economic lines. Black families were more than 50 percent more likely to have mold in their homes than white families, American Indian families were more than twice as likely to deal with unbearable cold and people with less than a high school education were 50 percent more likely to have exposed wiring in their homes.

In New York City, cold housing, which seemed to be one of the biggest problems, affected 6.7 percent of households with an income between $20,000 and $29,000. The city was ranked number three for unbearably cold conditions.

It probably would come as no surprise to city residents, too, that public housing isn't much better. In city housing, which in NYC was rated the worst landlord you can have, rats are reportedly biting public housing residents and 31 percent said they witnessed cockroaches.

You can take a look at the full report here.