NYCHA under fire over empty apartments in a housing crisis

NYCHA facing criticism over vacant NYC apartments

NYCHA takes over a year to fix and clean vacant apartments before new tenants can move in. FOX 5 NY's Linda Schmidt reports nearly 6,000 NYCHA apartments are vacant across the city.

BROOKLYN - New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) is under fire over vacant apartments sitting empty in the midst of a housing crisis.

‘More than a year to fix and clean apartments’

By the numbers:

Reporting from Red Hook, Brooklyn, FOX 5 NY's Linda Schmidt reveals that 300 apartments in NYCHA Red Hook Houses are not currently occupied.

A look at NYCHA metrics, kept updated on its website, shows that nearly 6,000 NYCHA apartments are vacant. A NYCHA fact sheet released in 2024 states that there were over 240,000 families on the waiting list for public housing, as of December 31, 2023.

Brooklyn City Councilmember Alexa Avilés told FOX 5 NY, "We're seeing this trend of NYCHA warehousing having a growing stock of empty apartments when we have a housing crisis."

The City Council's Committee on Public Housing held a hearing earlier this month, demanding answers as to why it takes NYCHA "more than a year to fix and clean vacant apartments" so that new tenants can move in.

Aviles is sponsoring a bill that would require NYCHA to submit an annual report on public housing dwelling units that have been vacant for more than 30 continuous days to the City Council.

Brooklyn City Councilmember Alexa Avilés

NYCHA's response

The other side:

NYCHA provided a statement in response, saying that it "works as quickly as possible to turn around apartments for new tenants while ensuring that they are being placed in safe homes that have undergone lead and asbestos abatement," also adding that the apartments typically require significant repairs.