NEW YORK (WABC) — There are more than 150,000 people on the waitlist to get into a public housing apartment in New York City. Some families have been on the list for more than a decade.
But there is a group of people who have gotten in illegally: squatters.
The New York City Department of Investigation issued a report, showing 548 empty apartments were taken over by squatters over the past three years. It resulted in 81 arrests.
The city is holding a public hearing Friday to hear from residents about the issue and what’s being done to improve security.
The squatting cases happened at NYCHA buildings across the city.
Housing workers say a woman squatted inside an empty apartment in Mitchel Houses in the Bronx. At Castle Hill Houses, police say a gang member was found dead inside an empty apartment. In Surfside Gardens in Brooklyn, the NYPD arrested two men and recovered a pistol from a vacant apartment.
“It’s horrendous,” said councilmember Alex Aviles, a longtime advocate for NYCHA residents. “It’s just another added stressor to families that are already under significant duress with buildings that are a mess.”
Daniel Greene, the Executive Vice President of Property Management Operations at NYCHA, has seen each one of the apartments in question.
“It’s frustrating due to the time it takes us to do the work and the expense of it,” Greene said.
He said the squatters got into apartments that were recently vacated and under renovation for things like lead paint and asbestos.
“It’s really a major concern for us to prevent unauthorized occupancy or trespassing in our units,” Greene said.
The Department of Investigation report made a number of recommendations. They include conducting more inspections. The reported stated “NYCHA does not proactively inspect its vacant apartments.” Another recommendation includes improving the way NYCHA locks its units and the keys it uses.
NYCHA said it’s implementing both of the recommendations, along with others.
“We’ve accepted those recommendations this month and we’ve already started to do some monthly inspection and to track them better,” Greene said.
NYCHA partners with the NYPD and NYCHA’s law department to investigate suspected cases of squatting.
“Our residents’ safety is paramount, that’s the number one thing we want in our buildings is for residents to be safe,” Greene said.
The City Council’s public housing committee is holding a public hearing at 10 a.m. Friday to address security measures for NYCHAs vacant apartments. City workers will be testifying and members of the public can provide comment.
NYCHA sent Eyewitness News a statement in response to the story:
“In addition to significantly improving the number of move-ins in recent years, NYCHA initiated a partnership with the NYPD in 2023 to root out criminal activity in vacant units on NYCHA property, resulting in the creation of the NYPD Housing Bureau’s Reclamation Unit. Since its implementation, this partnership has resulted in the reclamation of over 600 vacant units inhabited by unauthorized occupants. NYCHA works closely with DOI in many areas, and while they were not initially a part of these efforts and joined at a later stage, we have accepted DOI’s recommendations and will continue this work in support of our joint mission to provide safe housing for NYCHA residents.”
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