While reports say inflation recently eased somewhat in May, New Yorkers are still feeling the pinch when it comes to the overall cost of living, whether it be groceries, gas or rent.

Consumer spending in New York was up about 30% compared to January 2020, or pre-COVID times, according to Opportunity Insights, a nonprofit scientific research organization out of Harvard University, which looks at the aftershocks of the COVID-19 pandemic, including economic recovery.

Tensions are high in New Paltz, where market and economic conditions are conspiring to impact many.

Jane Schanberg moved to New Paltz from New York City more than 20 years ago. She said the COVID-19 pandemic changed a lot of things, most of all, her rent, which she says went up 20% in just the last two years.

“Everybody is angry, and I can’t blame anybody,” Schanberg said. “I’m not super angry, but I’m angry at the fact that people can’t afford to live where they want to live.”

She said she understands New Paltz is a desirable place to live, a midway point between Albany and New York City. Apartments.com says the average rent in New Paltz is around $1,600, nearly double the roughly $900 a month to rent a one-bedroom apartment in Ulster County 10 years ago, according to RentData.org.

The 76-year-old worries about the skyrocketing rental prices, which she says puts a lot of pressure on her and other community members.

“If you have a good tenant, I would think that you would want to keep those tenants, so perhaps you would want to do something that would give them an incentive to stay, and not move,” she said. “On the other hand, the landlords know there’s nowhere to move. If my rent goes up so precipitously in the next few years, I have to really figure out where I’m going to go, or if I’m just going to tighten my belt and live with it.”

Rents aren’t just going up in New Paltz. RentData.org says New York has the 16th highest rent in the U.S. The statewide median rental price is almost $1,100 for a one-bedroom, a jump of more than $200 since 2019.

Schanberg said she wants stronger protections at the state-level for tenants’ rights that would make it harder for landlords to evict tenants or raise rents.

“There should be some protection for tenants, to my mind, against unreasonable, crazy, rate rises, like 30%, 40%. Twenty is bad enough,” Schanberg said.

Mohammed Serdah grew up in New Paltz. He’s been a landlord there for 10 years. He takes a hands-on approach to his properties, including one located right by SUNY New Paltz.

“New Paltz is ever-changing like everywhere else, with the student housing market changing, Airbnb market now becoming a thing,” he said. “People wanting to move up from the city post-COVID, so it’s been changing.”

Serdah says a new development is expensive to build right now. And while he understands the frustration of New Paltz renters, he believes landlords are entitled to get market price for properties they’ve invested in and also have to upkeep.

“The rent has to be equal to what it costs, and it’s unfortunate, that post-COVID, the cost of inflation has done that to everybody, but just the developers, the landlords, we’re all feeling the rising costs,” he said.

Serdah showed off his father’s garage. Since his father is retiring, this will be the site of their next property, a three-story building with rental prices he hopes residents will agree with. “My father has been in business for 30 years here because he was always fair with his customers,” Serdah said.

“I think that being fair with everybody that you encounter, tenants, landlords, as long as you’re fair, people understand. We’re going to keep being fair with everybody,” he said.

Good Cause eviction policies, which would have prevented landlords from evicting tenants unless they violated the lease agreement and places limits on how much a landlord can raise rents each year, did not make it into New York’s final budget this year.