There are already laws to prevent what OP is complaining about. The problem is 99% of people do not utilize them (because they might not know about them, or feel comfortable enacting them) and get taken advantage of.

NYC is not a city for starving artists anymore. It’s become a well oiled machine for extracting capital from working professionals and hedge fund college students. Maybe it was always like this and people are now just realizing they are just side characters.

As a working professional, it’s annoying, but also I do what I do to be ABLE to live here without worrying. Living in NYC is a luxury, not a right.