Public housing increasingly being used as short-term rentals

 Some New York City public-housing residents are trying to make some extra cash this holiday season by renting out their subsidized apartments.

Advertisements for nightly or monthly sublets have begun to appear on Craigslist, with asking prices ranging from $350 t0 $650, according to the New York Post.

“Huge room available immediately in a 3-bedroom apartment for rent,” one Craigslist ad with a New York Housing Authority address reads. “Females only . . . no drugs, no smoking, no drama.”

Legal or not, short-term rentals have been helping cash-strapped New Yorks make ends meet for sometime now. But under NYCHA rules, only residents authorized by the agency may live in the apartments, and violating those rules may land residents in Housing Court.

The use of public housing for short-term rentals is particularly problematic since more than 160,000 families are currently on NYCHA’s waiting list, agency chair John Rhea has said. [NYP] –Christopher Cameron