BROOKLYN, N.Y. (PIX11) — A New York City Housing Authority employee evicted Mocha, a single mother – Monday morning, from the 2-bedroom apartment at the Ingersoll public housing development in Downtown Brooklyn.
“This is NYCHA’s apartment, OK?” the manager told Mocha.
Mocha admits she’d been squatting in the vacant unit, with her 10-year-old daughter for the last four months. Mocha says before squatting, they lived in a city homeless shelter.
But when she arrived back at the apartment Monday, the police were waiting.
This is by no means a new problem for NYCHA, and Mocha’s situation is certainly not an isolated incident. In fact, tenants at the Ingersoll Houses say there are vacant units scattered throughout the development; units they say have been empty for years.
Mocha argues New York City has a housing shortage, her family is homeless, and NYCHA should be using its vast inventory of vacant apartments, to house the homeless.
NYCHA officials tell PIX11 News the agency has already completed more than 3,700 move-ins this year compared with just under 2,650 (show 2,642) last year.