Amid record homelessness, thousands of empty NYCHA apartments - Jan 31, 2023
https://pix11.com/news/local-news/amid-record-homelessness-thousands-of-empty-nycha-apartments/?
政府樓空置率暴增6倍 調查失職
記者張心／紐約報導
紐約市平價住房不足，危機難解。房屋局(NYCHA)管理的政府樓等，被指空置率一年內飆升逾六倍，多半因年久失修、拖延修繕、不宜居住而「逼退」住戶。市主計長蘭德(Brad Lander)22日宣布對市房屋局啟動調查，尤其要對樓宇的維修程序和驅逐系統進行審計。
根據市房屋局統計，2022年1月，該機構旗下486間單位空置，這一數字在今年1月增加至3593間，同比增加640%。對此，市房屋局、租戶律師和市議員稱，空置由一系列原因造就，包括清理公寓的標準變得嚴格、工作人員減少、甚至是市府的低效管理。造成的結果是低收入家庭、老年居民、遊民要等上很多年才能搬入。
市房屋局預估，這些閒置樓宇帶來超過400億元的積壓維修費用，並將每年上漲10億元，甚至不包括這些樓宇要因為現代化、氣候變化而翻修的數十億元預期費用。
「我去年2月申請市房屋局在哈林區管理的房間，一個月後通知申請批准，但到現在一年過去，市房屋局說房子還沒有準備好。」67歲行動不便的居民弗雷澤(Pamela Frazier)表示，原本的家因為長期長黴菌而不適合居住，新的房子由遲遲不到位，不知道怎麼辦。
市主計長蘭德和居民們舉行新聞發布會，宣布對市房屋局展開調查。「長期關注市房屋局的運作和管理問題，居民們是這些問題的見證人。」蘭德說。
市主計長辦公室啟動對市房屋局維修項目和驅逐系統的審查。將分析該機構如何選擇承包商，如何進行維修工作，確保及時和高品質的維修執行；此外，將調查不同樓宇項目的驅逐率，是否有特定單位有較高的驅逐率。
市主計長蘭德宣布對市房屋局展開調查。(市主計長辦公室提供)
Amid record homelessness, thousands of empty NYCHA apartments
by: James Ford
https://pix11.com/news/local-news/amid-record-homelessness-thousands-of-empty-nycha-apartments/?
LOWER MANHATTAN (PIX11) — With affordable housing in short supply and homelessness on the rise, New York City leaders on Tuesday questioned a steady, large increase in vacant public housing units.
Members of the City Council wondered what the city can do to fill those New York City Housing Authority apartments during a Public Housing Committee hearing on Tuesday. Eva Trimble, NYCHA’s chief operating officer, and Sylvia Aude, the senior vice president of tenancy administration at NYCHA, testified about vacancy numbers that councilmember and Committee Chair Alexa Avilés, said merited closer scrutiny.
According to NYCHA’s own statistics, it had 490 vacant apartments in December 2021. However, by December 2022, that number skyrocketed to 3,300 — a more than six-fold increase.
The time it’s taken for empty NYCHA apartments to be re-occupied has also increased significantly. In December 2021, it took about 120 days on average for a public housing apartment to be turned around from vacant to occupied. That time rose steadily over the year, and by December 2022, it took 260 days.
Current NYCHA residents who spoke with PIX11 News reacted strongly.
“I’m very surprised,” said Priscilla Trader near her home in the Farragut Houses, “when you have so many people in the shelters.”
Another resident, who didn’t give his name, said that he was upset to learn the numbers.
“I don’t think it’s right that they’re letting [space] go for no use,” he said.
Councilmembers at Tuesday’s hearing expressed similar frustrations.
Councilmember Lincoln Restler of Brooklyn said that the statistics showed that the city was falling short in a situation where it could improve its homelessness numbers.
During the hearing, he said that the numbers strongly suggested that the city was spending too much on keeping families in shelters, when it should be devoting those resources to housing those families.
In an interview outside of the hearing, Restler said that Mayor Eric Adams’ administration needs to “hire more people into city service so that we can get these apartments fixed up, and move people out of city shelters, so we can provide a decent place for people to live.”
For their part, Trimble and Aude, the NYCHA officials testifying, said that many of the vacant apartments need significant restoration work, including asbestos and lead removal. They also said that the requirements for lead removal in particular have gotten more strict and time consuming.
Judith Goldiner, the lead attorney at the Legal Aid Society division that handles cases involving homelessness and affordable housing, summarized another issue contributing to the high vacancy rate.
“NYCHA is completely out of money,” she said, in an interview.
Because of that, she said, the city needs to take the resources it has and apply them to making vacant apartments ready for move-in faster. She specifically mentioned that the city’s Housing, Preservation and Development agency can be put into service.
“What we’re suggesting is, let’s use HPD, who has folks who do this kind of emergency repair, and they can do it faster, let’s get this done faster,” Goldiner said. “Let’s figure out a way to bridge whatever the problem is so that people can move in more quickly.”
According to NYCHA statistics, in addition to the 3,600 vacant apartments, there are 3,700 additional apartments that haven’t had people move in, or are being renovated or aren’t for residential use.
