According to a survey by the New York City Hospitality Alliance, almost 90% of New York City restaurants and bars are unable to pay rent.

Despite the city’s seemingly successful experiment with outdoor dining, the rent crisis for restaurants and bars is worsening. A new survey of more than 450 establishments by the New York City Hospitality Alliance has revealed that 87 percent of businesses were unable to pay full rent in August, of which 34 percent were unable to pay any rent at all. That’s a significant increase from June and July where 80 percent and 83 percent of restaurants surveyed, respectively, were unable to pay full rent. According to another information in the survey, 60 percent of restaurant landlords had not waived any rent, and of the ones who had waived rent, only a third offered more than 50 percent concession on rent.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo recently extended the commercial eviction moratorium through October 20, which should be another temporary reprieve for restaurants, but more restaurants are likely to close permanently without any longterm relief efforts, according to the Alliance. Since the start of the pandemic, more than 1,000 NYC restaurants and bars have permanently closed due to the crisis.