NYT Piece Uses Elevator To Explain Housing Costs and Other Woes

Stephen Jacob Smith, founder and executive director of the Center for Building in North America, used the elevator to explain why housing costs have skyrocketed, among other woes, in a guest essay for The New York Times (NYT). He begins with a personal story about how he had to climb stairs to reach his third-floor Brooklyn apartment post-pandemic, becoming dizzy and winded because he was ill. “On bad days, I became a prisoner in my own home,” he said. A few months later, Smith visited his mother in Bucharest, where her five-story building was equipped with a small elevator. Elevators, even in mid-rise buildings, are common in Europe, where code is harmonized. In North America, on the other hand, “not only do we have our own elevator code, but individual U.S. jurisdictions modify it further,” he wrote. Add to that the tight market for skilled labor and the strength of the union, and elevators become too cost-prohibitive for many developers. While the elevator helped our country grow into an “economic powerhouse,” with “the elevator-powered Manhattan skyline becoming the command center for the global economy,” today the cost to add an elevator in New York or many other American cities has skyrocketed. “A basic four-stop elevator costs about US$158,000 in NYC, compared with about US$36,000 in Switzerland,” he observed.

Get more of Elevator World. Sign up for our free e-newsletter.

Please enter a valid email address.
Something went wrong. Please check your entries and try again.

Elevator entrance; image courtesy of NYC Housing Connect via New York YIMBY

Skyline Elevator System For New Brooklyn Residential Building

David M. Childs; headshot via the Architect's Newspaper

In Memoriam: David M. Childs

Image courtesy of Stannah Lifts

Stannah Urges Lift Owners To Prepare for PSTN Switchover

Ziehl-Abegg-Logo

Ziehl-Abegg Reports Bright Outlook for 2025

SIMS4LIFTS NOW SIMSINLIFTS, LAUNCHES ENHANCED PORTAL

Sims4Lifts Now SIMSINLIFTS, Launches Enhanced Portal

New Elevator at the Brentwood Town Centre SkyTrain station; image courtesy of TransLink

SkyTrain Station in Vancouver Receives Major Expansion

MACAU GOVERNMENT URGING ANNUAL ELEVATOR INSPECTIONS

Macau Government Urging Annual Elevator Inspections

Wonder Wheel at Coney Island; photo by DangApricot for Wikipedia

DOB Elevator Unit Inspects Coney Island Amusement Park