Despite the high vacancy rate in municipal apartments managed by the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA), it was pointed out that the relocation of homeless people was very low due to delays in renovation and repair work. According to data recently released by the City Audit Office (Comptroller Brad Lander), as of last March, the number of vacant units in NYCHA city apartments reached a whopping 5,000. This is a 10-fold increase compared to 2021.
However, it is predicted that the number of homeless people leaving shelters such as shelters to move to NYCHA municipal apartments in this fiscal year (July 1, 2023, to June 30, 2024) will plummet by 80% compared to 2015. It is analyzed that the renovation and repair work on NYCHA city apartments has been delayed to the lowest level in 10 years, leading to a situation where people cannot move in right away even if empty houses become available.
The City Audit Office pointed out, “As NYCHA’s chronic disinvestment and poor management have accumulated, the movement of homeless people into NYCHA city apartments is being delayed,” and “Intensive renovation and repair work on empty units is urgently needed.”
As of March, there were 223,000 people on the waiting list for NYCHA municipal apartments, according to NYCHA data. According to New York City open data statistics, between 2015 and 2021, an average of 1,800 homeless people left shelters and moved into NYCHA municipal apartments each fiscal year. However, this number has plummeted to 736 in 2022, and it is expected to fall to less than 500 this fiscal year.
Accordingly, the number of homeless people moving into public housing by receiving vouchers provided by New York City is increasing. A Bronx resident said that in March, after six years of living in public housing, she received a notice that she was on the waiting list for a municipal apartment for the elderly in NYCHA Harlem.