A man washes down the doorway of an apartment building on March 25, 2020 in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York City. | Corbis via Getty Images

Property owners juggle a widespread struggle to pay rent with their own mortgage responsibilities When Chris Athineos says that current events present an unprecedented challenge to landlords, he speaks with some authority. He manages a family business, founded by his parents in 1968, that now owns and operates 150 units in apartments across the Brooklyn Heights, Park Slope, and Bay Ridge neighborhoods in Brooklyn, New York.
?It?s frightening, we?ve never had a crisis like this,? he says about the economic fallout from the novel coronavirus. ?We haven?t felt the effects economically yet, but I?m sure everybody will. I?m trying not to panic.? Athineos, who?s also the executive director of Small Property Owners of New York (SPONY), a nonprofit representing the landlords who own smaller buildings with fewer than 100 units, says that the pandemic has changed how he and other landlords manage their buildings. Elevators are restricted to one person or family at a time; high-touch areas, such as compactor chute handles, doorbells, and elevator buttons, are cleaned constantly; appliance repairs, especially for overstuffed refrigerators, are taking on new urgency.
It?s also raised questions of how landlords will cover their own expenses during a prolonged economic pause, as an increasing number of newly unemployed tenants will stru...