Council hearing presses NYCHA on 6,294 vacant apartments and DOI findings on shared keys

Council Member Chris Banks opened a Committee on Public Housing hearing, saying the council would press the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) on its handling of vacant apartments after a Department of Investigation (DOI) probe and media reports that hundreds of apartments were being illegally occupied while thousands of families sit on waiting lists. “At a time of such high demand, leaving units unsecured is not just insufficient, it is irresponsible,” Banks told the room of residents, advocates and NYCHA officials.

Residents described day-to-day safety failures and slow repairs. “We have about 100 vacant apartments in my development,” said Nigel Dupri, a Brook Ellen resident, who also raised mold and leak complaints and long transfer delays for tenants seeking relocations. Other speakers accused NYCHA of “warehousing” units and urged a moratorium on privatization measures like RAD/PACK conversions until the authority demonstrates it can secure and turn over existing apartments.

NYCHA’s testimony stressed recent production gains and an acceptance of DOI’s recommendations. Daniel Green, NYCHA’s executive vice president for property management operations, told the committee NYCHA’s central vacancy count is 6,294 vacant apartments (a 4.7% vacancy rate of roughly 146,000 public-housing units), and that NYCHA “has increased the number of move‑ins by 76% since 2023.” He said the current average turnover time is about 340 days, down from nearly 395 days, and that the authority’s target is to get below 300 days.

Green outlined operational steps NYCHA has accepted from DOI: instituting monthly inspections of vacant units, evaluating alternative locks and security technologies, requiring resident-watch reports to be verified immediately by property management, and deploying additional funding to shorten turnaround. He also said NYPD housing‑bureau partners and NYCHA’s law department have helped reclaim roughly 635 apartments from unauthorized occupants since 2023.

Advocates and legal groups pressed two related concerns: first, whether NYCHA’s pace and staffing levels are adequate to meet both turnover and security needs; and second, whether NYCHA and NYPD’s reclamation process respects occupants’ due‑process rights. Evan Ma, a Brooklyn Defender Services attorney, said his office has represented clients who were reclaimed by NYCHA/NYPD and later restored in housing court, adding that ‘‘reclamation in lieu of judicial eviction risks wrongful lockouts for people with legally cognizable claims to the unit.’’ Legal Aid lawyers echoed the need for careful judicial and administrative processes before physical removal.

Councillors also sought clearer fiscal accounting. NYCHA said its portfolio-wide capital need estimate remains roughly $80 billion per its recent PNA (physical needs assessment) cycle and that conversions to RAD/PACK reduce capital obligations on specific developments but do not automatically free up city or state capital for Section 9 preservation; NYCHA said it will provide a more detailed briefing to the committee. The authority said the city has allocated $222 million for a vacant‑unit readiness program (FY2026–2030) and that the state has proposed additional capital and expense funding in recent budget proposals.

DOI’s lock‑vulnerability finding drew particular attention: the DOI report noted common ‘move‑out’ keys and, in some cases, a generic ‘‘65’’ key that can open multiple units or mechanical rooms. NYCHA officials said that practice was unacceptable, that the number of developments actually using a generic key was small, that those locks have been replaced where found, and that NYCHA will evaluate alternative lock sets and increase the use of multiple moveout cylinders per development in the near term.

On environmental work, NYCHA said it performs about 200 lead abatements per month in vacant units and is budgeted to do about 215 asbestos abatements per month; it reported 1,120 vacant units currently awaiting lead work and 152 awaiting asbestos abatement and that coordinated sequencing is needed so trades can begin work immediately after clearance. NYCHA estimated average turnover cost per apartment at roughly $52,000 and called out lead/asbestos abatement and plaster trades as key drivers of time and cost.

The hearing produced an uneasy balance: NYCHA documented production gains and accepted DOI’s recommendations, while residents and advocates continued to report unsecured doors, propped entries, stolen tenant‑association property and the human costs of long vacancy delays. “Vacant apartments are creating unsafe conditions for the people they are supposed to protect,” said Reverend Kevin McCall in testimony summarized to the committee.

What’s next: NYCHA told the committee it will begin an interim program of monthly vacant‑unit inspections this month and aims to integrate inspections into its Maximo work‑order system by year‑end; it also agreed to provide the committee a detailed accounting of capital‑need calculations, a proposal for resources required to scale production (including what would be needed to reach 1,000 renovations per month), and the operational plan for implementing lock changes and resident‑watch reporting. The committee left the record open for written submissions and asked NYCHA for multiple follow‑ups on funding, overtime breakdowns and enforcement of new inspection and lock‑management procedures.

Reporting note: quotes and attributions in this article come from the hearing transcript and are used to reflect speakers’ statements during the committee session.