NYCHA has a squatter problem

Hundreds of vacant New York City Housing Authority apartments intended for tenants instead became crash pads for squatters, sometimes doubling as bases for drug dealing and other crimes.

More than 600 empty NYCHA units were illegally occupied between 2022 and 2025 as the authority’s inventory of vacant apartments ballooned, according to a report from the city’s Department of Investigation. The lapse came as roughly 165,000 households sit on the public housing waiting list, The City reported.

The watchdog found NYCHA often didn’t verify whether supposedly vacant apartments were actually empty. Between January 2022 and May 2025, the number of units sitting vacant while awaiting renovations jumped from about 2,800 to 6,700, creating an opening for trespassers to move in undetected.

Compounding the problem: NYCHA used identical locks for vacant units across entire developments, a policy investigators said made it easier for unauthorized occupants to access multiple apartments. DOI urged the authority to install unique locks and conduct regular inspections, warning that the existing system “poses an unacceptable risk” of illegal occupancy.

The consequences stretched beyond a few opportunistic squatters. Investigators said some vacant apartments were used to store narcotics or facilitate gang activity. In one case, federal prosecutors charged a dozen people with operating an open-air drug market at the Johnson Houses in East Harlem, allegedly using empty NYCHA units as stash spots.

In another incident, police discovered the body of a man fatally shot inside a vacant apartment at the Castle Hill Houses in the Bronx in 2023. Authorities said the victim had dozens of prior arrests and alleged gang ties.

NYCHA only began systematically addressing the issue in 2023, when it partnered with the NYPD to target squatters across its roughly 160,000-unit portfolio. Through last year, the effort reclaimed 635 apartments and led to 81 arrests for offenses including trespassing and drug dealing.

Even then, procedures were slow to evolve. Until September 2024, staff lacked a clear protocol for dealing with suspected squatters. The authority now instructs employees to contact police in trespassing cases that may pose a public safety threat and has begun tracking apartments suspected of being illegally occupied.

DOI attributed the surge in squatters partly to the drawn-out process of turning over empty units. Renovations often take months, especially when lead paint or asbestos remediation is required. NYCHA’s chronic funding shortages also mean repairs to occupied apartments often take priority.

The authority agreed to adopt DOI’s recommendations, including installing unique locks and launching monthly inspections of vacant units awaiting renovation, though those inspections aren’t expected to begin for another six months.— Holden Walter-Warner