Comptroller’s Audit Reveals Outsized Vacancy Rate In Several NYCHA Houses, Including Ingersoll

Despite a waiting list of over 270,000 people for an apartment in one of the New York City Housing Authority’s (NYCHA), an audit by Comptroller Scott Stringer revealed that there were over 1,000 vacant apartments throughout the city that are kept off of the rent-rolls (not listed and so not able to be rented) as of September 2014.

Even worse? The average vacancy period stretched to 116 days — nearly three times NYCHA’s stated goal of turnover within 40 days. Those long vacancy periods has also meant $8 million in lost rents, according to Stringer and NYCHA.

This news, coupled with other audit results (the audit spanned July 2012 through April 2015) that found lack of oversight and maintenance of vacant and community/non-resident spaces, has triggered a citywide call for accountability and policy changes/enforcement.

“The fact that NYCHA has left 80 apartments vacant for over a decade, and another 161 apartments sitting empty for between three and 10 years, is simply unacceptable,” said Stringer during a press conference outside Fort Greene’s Ingersoll Houses. “[Those] who are waiting for housing deserve much better treatment than that. It’s well past time for NYCHA to start getting it right.”

Here in Fort Greene, Ingersoll Houses had 23 apartments off the rent roll for major repairs or modernization for over 10 years. That news doesn’t come as a surprise for tenants like Anthony Sosa and Darold Burgess, who lead the Ingersoll Tenants Association.

“No one is following up and enforcing [so] there’s a long list of repairs,” said Burgess. “There are holes in walls, we’re told appointments are only available in one year, old elevators, no garbage cleanings. . . Seniors and families live here. It’s not safe.”

The issue of safety is a big concern for residents, agreed tenants and elected officials, especially as apartments that are left vacant for extended periods of time attract squatters, vandals, and possibly more crime.

“The audit shows evidence of squatters in vacant apartments and the buildings. It’s [perhaps linked] to an uptick in crime, with outsiders living here and breaking locks,” said Stringer. “There are a lot of little kids and the elderly here. We need more on the law enforcement side. Every housing unit in NYCHA is precious, especially with long wait lists.”

“We’ve been fighting for years for this type of exposure. It’s not enough to have an audit; we need action,” added Tyree Stanback, president of the neighboring Lafayette Gardens Residents Association in Clinton Hill. “Money comes in, but we don’t see a lot of services and repairs. They talk about the next generation, but there will be none without this generation. United we stand, divided we’re homeless.”

Here are the numbers for vacancies in Ingersoll Houses as of December 2014, and the reasons they are vacant.

Other developments shown by the audit to be affected include Harlem River, Lincoln, Randolph, Ravenswood, Wagner, Queensbridge, West Brighton II, and Red Hook East and West.