Domestic violence is on the rise in the city’s public housing developments — a key factor in the spike in NYCHA crime, a new City Council report has found.
The report, to be released Tuesday by the Council’s Public Housing Committee, reveals the number of domestic violence crimes at NYCHA projects has more than doubled, from 809 in 2009 to 1,642 last year.
That’s a 100% jump — far in excess of the 25% increase in domestic-violence-related crimes citywide during that same time period, the report states.
The NYPD says the steady rise in domestic violence arrests is a key factor in the alarming 31% spike in major crime at city Housing Authority developments over the past five years.
The upward trend comes as Mayor de Blasio changed priorities to let homeless families jump ahead of domestic violence victims on the huge waiting list for NYCHA apartments.
As of March, there were 240,000 applicants on the list. No more than 5,000 units become available each year, and NYCHA’s vacancy rate is usually lower than 1%.
At the same time, the city now hosts a record number of homeless families in its shelter system. As of last week, there were 56,000 adults and children in family shelters.
Responding to that crisis, de Blasio in May moved homeless families to the front of the line, promising to provide 750 of these families with public housing each year over the next three years.
“This change in policy will likely affect waiting times for … domestic violence victims,” the Public Housing Committee report states. “In effect, 750 homeless families each year will now be placed ahead of … domestic violence victims on the waiting list.”
Committee Chairman Ritchie Torres (D-Bronx) will hold a hearing at City Hall on Tuesday to examine how NYCHA plans to address the growing problem of domestic violence.
Torres — who grew up in a public housing development in the Bronx — concedes it is a dilemma trying to balance the housing needs of homeless families and domestic violence victims.
“It could have a crowding-out effect. You could crowd out victims of domestic violence,” he said. “But it’s genuinely a complicated matter.”
Torres noted that NYCHA also makes it tough for some domestic violence victims to get any priority at all.
Domestic violence victims whose abusers are charged with first- or second-degree assault or rape have to submit documentation of only one incident to qualify for priority placement on the NYCHA waiting list.
But victims whose attackers are charged with lesser crimes must submit proof of at least two incidents to qualify for priority housing placement.
That means that after a single assault, a domestic violence victim wouldn’t qualify for priority placement in NYCHA housing, Torres said.
As of Sept. 29, there were 754 applicants assigned the priority level domestic violence victims get, including some who’ve been on the list since 2004.
“Does the fact that a domestic violence victim must produce documented evidence of two incidents make any sense?” he said. “We have to examine whether there are changes that could be made to make the system more flexible.”
NYCHA spokeswoman Joan Lebow said the agency has recently loosened the requirements to qualify for housing, expanding the list of “single incidents” from 21 types of crimes to 80.
“Domestic violence awareness, prevention and support is a priority for this administration,” Lebow said.