Over the last year, the number of vacant public housing apartments in New York City has risen by nearly 50% — with just under 5,000 units sitting empty as of January, while more than 240,000 applicants languish on the New York City Housing Authority waiting list.
In a report published Wednesday, NYCHA federal monitor Bart Schwartz charged that a special team the authority’ central office created to speed up turning over vacated apartments actually had the opposite effect, slowing down the process and causing apartments to sit empty for months at a time.
The job of getting emptied apartments ready for new tenants used to be handled by staff at each housing development. Then it got more complicated after the U.S. Department of Justice accused NYCHA officials of lying about lead paint and other hazards — a case that culminated in a 2019 settlement and the monitor’s appointment.
As the number of vacant apartments began to climb, NYCHA tried a new tack beginning in early 2022, transfering the work of turning over apartments NYCHA was setting aside for homeless families to a new entity called Operational Analysis and Contract Management (OACM), overseen by NYCHA Chief Operating Officer Eva Trimble.