Thousands of permanent apartments reserved for formerly homeless New Yorkers are sitting empty, despite a mounting death toll on the city’s streets and a near-record-high shelter population, new city data shows.
A legally required monthly report released by the city’s Department of Social Services reveals nearly 3,200 of the city’s roughly 40,000 supportive housing units were vacant, with no immediate plans by the agency or providers to fill them with a tenant. The report is current as of just over two months ago and shows that most of the empty apartments are overseen by the state.
Elected officials and advocates for homeless New Yorkers have long assailed the chronic vacancy problem in supportive housing amid a growing homelessness crisis. The apartments are typically reserved for people leaving shelters who have a mental illness or other special needs…