New York City’s public housing authority has updated its rules that decide who gets first access to open apartments to give those escaping domestic violence a higher place in line.
Still, advocates say more could be done.
The change comes months after Gothamist reported on an analysis by the group Legal Services NYC showing NYCHA tenants fleeing abuse were waiting an average of 800 days for a move to a safer home, even after their applications were approved.
Roughly 2,000 households seeking moves as a result of domestic violence were on the waiting list as of fall 2024, according to a report prepared by the nonprofit organization last year.
Under the old system, domestic violence-related moves were placed near the back of the line, behind tenants seeking transfers because they were traveling more than 90 minutes for work or because they had had long-term friction with neighbors.
NYCHA’s new plan, which received final approval last month, reshuffles that order. The authority will now treat domestic violence moves as “emergency transfers,” a category which gets the same priority as disabled tenants in need of accommodations and those with specific medical care needs.
A spokesperson for the housing authority acknowledged the update that puts transfers under the Violence Against Women Act on par with other urgent requests and said NYCHA expects the new system to be in place by the end of March.
The move is a step in the right direction, said Luis Henriquez, the director of litigation at Manhattan Legal Services and one of the authors of the report that drew attention to the matter last year. Still, he said, the new structure falls short of federal laws which require those fleeing domestic violence to receive the same priority as other tenants who must move because their homes are unsafe.
Under the new guidelines, “emergency transfers” must still wait behind tenants who are returning to their original apartments, tenants returning to their original developments and tenants relocating for renovations.
“Emergency transfers need to have that exact same level of priority of that apartment that caught fire,” Henriquez said.
Legal Services NYC has also pushed NYCHA to hire a coordinator to work with survivors escaping abuse and to expand transfer options for them, including making it easier for them to receive a Section 8 voucher. However, Henriquez said, it doesn’t appear the housing authority has acted on either of those proposals.
Henriquez and others have pushed the housing authority to make better use of its vacant housing stock. According to the most recent Mayor’s Management Report, there were 6,451 vacant units last fiscal year, an increase of nearly 900 from the year before.
That figure doesn't include another 1,800 units, according to Henriquez, that the authority has held empty while it converts them from public housing to Section 8-style programs to allow for repairs.
A spokesperson for NYCHA did not immediately respond to requests for comment about the agency’s vacancy rate or decision-making processes around the new system.
