New York City is often described as the exception in the current subprime housing crisis that is sweeping rapidly across the country, forcing people out of their homes and sometimes into bankruptcy.

Here, the real estate market is behaving as if on steroids -- as it always does. It's a market where $600,000 for a one-bedroom apartment is considered a steal, and where selling your apartment or brownstone is often compared to winning the lottery.

But this isn't always the case. New York is a huge city, and in the outer-boroughs, as well as less affluent areas of Manhattan, foreclosures are turning renters out in droves. In some cases, landlords are simply abandoning their properties and leaving their tenants to fend for themselves -- effectively turning them into squatters in dilapidated, leaky buildings barely fit for the vermin that also live there.

According to a study by the Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy at New York Univerity, about 38,000 renters in New York are facing this situation. The center reports that last year alone, foreclosure proceedings were begun on about 15,000 residential and mixed-use buildings.

Elizabeth Harris of the New York Times offers these tips to renters:

Save your rent money in an escrow account in case a landlord takes you to court for past-due rent money years down the road.

Take photographs and keep records of any problems your building develops in case your landlord neglects your property and you need to take him/her to court.

Contact the Children's Aid Society, which provides funds to help cover moving expenses for people who face rental foreclosures.

Go to nyc.gov/acris to determine who owns your building.

Call 311 to obtain legal counseling services from the Center for New York City Neighborhoods.