More than 600 vacant NYCHA apartments were taken over by squatters over the last few years as the number of empty public housing units spiked, a frustrating trend for the 165,000 applicants stalled on the authority’s waiting list.
The city Department of Investigation (DOI) released a report Tuesday revealing that in between January 2022 and May 2025 the number of empty apartments vacated by tenants and awaiting renovation had climbed from 2,800 to 6,700.
DOI noted that until recently NYCHA did not regularly check on vacant apartments to see if they were actually vacant, stating “the absence of regular inspections increases the risk that trespassing and other illegal criminal activity can occur undetected in the vacant apartment and heightens security risks to the NYCHA community at large.”…