This week's Rent Free focuses on New York City's housing problems

New York Community Bank's stock has halved in value and Moody's downgraded its credit rating to junk.

NYCB is a major lender to the owners of rent-stabilized buildings, which have been plummeting in value.

New York's rent stabilization scheme might run afoul of the laws of economics, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District says.

New York City's housing problems are largely policy-created housing problems.

54 percent of New York's housing was built before 1947 and 80 percent of it is built before 1974 .

The city needs a lot more housing, and the housing that does exist is really old.

The temptation to make things worse by doubling down on rent stabilization and public housing is also there.

Pastor Chris Avell had been hit with 18 criminal charges related to allowing homeless people to sleep in his church.

Avell has agreed to make safety upgrades at the church for services they plan to continue there.

A mix of density bonuses and emergency permit streamlining is enabling for-profit developers in Los Angeles , California , to build no-frills, unsubsidized apartments with rents low enough to technically count as "affordable" units.