Over 80,000 homes in the New York area could sink in the next 15 years. This is warned by a report by the Regional Planning Association (RPA), quoted by the "New York Times".
Global warming will further aggravate the housing crisis
The non-governmental organization was founded in the United States in 1922 and develops ideas for economic sustainability and improving the quality of life. Its experts warn that due to global warming, floods in the coming years will become increasingly uncontrollable and will lead to an even more acute housing shortage. "You're going to have to build more housing to replace what's lost," says Moses Gates, the organization's vice president.
New York City and the surrounding areas have not added enough housing in recent years, leading to ever-higher real estate prices and an acute shortage of housing, experts warn. In February 2025, rent prices reached a new record, with an average rent of $4,500 per month in Manhattan.
Due to record-high housing prices, thousands of workers are forced to sleep with acquaintances or in shelters. According to data from non-governmental organizations, more than 350,000 New Yorkers do not own their own purchased or rented housing.
The destruction of housing by natural elements will further exacerbate this problem. According to the RPA report, communities along the Atlantic Ocean, including the New York boroughs of Queens and Brooklyn, will be among the hardest hit.
Authorities in the Big Apple's boroughs - from Queens to Manhattan - are trying to limit the risks by creating levees and building floodgates and walls.
After Superstorm Sandy flooded much of Staten Island's east shore in 2012, New York State purchased more than 500 dilapidated homes, clearing most of them to return the land to its natural state. But the ambitious, expensive plan to protect the entire city from coastal storms has yet to be approved by the federal government, and it will take at least 20 years to implement.
The threats posed by global warming mean that local governments need to rethink what a conventional home looks like, says Max Besbris, a sociology professor at the University of Wisconsin, quoted by the "New York Times". "That means denser housing, more energy-efficient housing and, in all likelihood, a departure from the suburban ideal of a detached house with a white picket fence," he says.
Hundreds of Thousands of New Homes Needed
Experts from the Regional Planning Association are analyzing how many homes the region needs to ensure there are enough homes for people to move into. They concluded that the area needs 362,000 additional housing units today, including to ease overcrowding and provide permanent housing for people currently in shelters.
In 15 years, that number will more than triple to 1.2 million, accounting for population growth, flood losses and general housing deterioration. The report also said that cities should focus their growth in areas that are relatively less at risk of flooding and are close to public transportation and shopping centers, the New York Times reported.
Mayor Eric Adams' administration has successfully pushed through a plan that would allow for the construction of about 80,000 additional housing units over the next decade. But this plan, although already approved by the City Council, would reduce housing needs in the New York area by only 11%, the report also states.