New York’s rent squeeze shows no sign of loosening, with average housing costs hitting $3,706 in March—up 5.4% on the year, and more than double the US mean. Harlem, once a byword for affordability, now leads the city’s price surge, while the apartment vacancy rate staggers along at 1.4%. Families searching for cheaper digs might want to invest in a good pair of walking shoes.
New York City in brief
Top five stories in the five boroughs today
New York has seen its SNAP rolls shrink by 6.2%—about 180,000 people—between January 2025 and February 2026, mirroring a national fall as new federal rules and added work requirements, not a sudden outbreak of prosperity, chip away at eligibility. As food insecurity holds steady, fewer New Yorkers manage to clear the administrative hurdles; apparently, hunger’s greatest foe is paperwork, not abundance.
A Citizens Budget Commission analysis has urged New York City to expand its Fair Fares half-price subway program by raising the income ceiling to 250% of the federal poverty level, potentially adding 722,000 eligible commuters at a cost of $146 million—rather cheaper than some would suggest. While Mayor Mamdani dreams of free buses for all, we suspect incremental discounts may better navigate the city’s perennial “affordability” maze.
New York City Council will on May 6 probe the feasibility of automatically enrolling all 1.4 million eligible low-income residents in Fair Fares, a public transit subsidy program. Currently, only about 370,000 navigate the paperwork maze, leaving many discounts unclaimed. Council Members, officials, and critics will weigh the merits; if bureaucracy relents, subway turnstiles might greet more wallets with a lighter touch.
A new audit from the Anti-Defamation League found violent antisemitic attacks in America rose 4% to a 46-year peak in 2025, with deadly assaults up nearly 40% and New York accounting for almost half—though overall incidents fell sharply from the post–October 2023 spike. Brooklyn, as ever, bucked the trend, serving up a 10% uptick—proving some neighbourhoods really do insist on going their own way.