Thousands of NYCHA apartments sit empty as 165K NYC families remain stuck on waitlist

Thousands of desperately needed public housing apartments are sitting empty across New York City — even as scores of families wait years for a place to live, a new investigation found.The number of vacant New York City Housing Authority units more than doubled in recent years, from about 2,840 in 2022 to roughly 6,740 by 2025, according to a report on the probe released Tuesday by the city Department of Investigation.On average, vacancies stretched to up to a year — up from four months in 2021 — a staggering slowdown for an agency facing a massive housing crunch, with 165,000 hopeful families stuck on NYCHA’s waiting list, the DOI said.The report found that the average cost of turning over a NYCHA apartment came out to a whopping $52,000, including $17,000 for lead abatement, $25,000 for asbestos abatement and $10,000 for general renovations. Investigators also warned that the prolonged vacancies were not only a waste of scarce housing, but also posed a public safety risk for public housing tenants.“NYCHA apartments that sit vacant reduce the already limited availability of the city’s public housing stock, and without appropriate security measures, pose a public safety risk for public housing residents, employees and contractors,” acting DOI Commissioner Christopher Ryan said.Police reclaimed 548 NYCHA apartments from squatters between January 2022 and May 2025, resulting in 81 arrests on charges including trespassing, drug possession and weapons offenses, investigators said.The report found that after a tenant leaves, NYCHA staff often install a generic “move‑out” lock so that one key can open every vacant apartment in a building.That practice, combined with the lack of regular security inspections, has left empty units vulnerable to crime, the DOI said.A NYCHA spokesperson said most of the agency’s vacant units were undergoing required environmental remediation and major repairs.A City Council report last year blamed the logjam in getting ne...