NYCHA is the largest public housing authority in North America. NYCHA's Conventional Public Housing Program has 178,556 (as of February 2, 2010) apartments in 334 developments throughout the City in 2,604 residential buildings containing 3,322 elevators (as of February 5, 2010). NYCHA has 11,664 employees serving 175,475 families and 403,665 authorized residents (as of January 4, 2010). This includes 2,236 Section 8 Transition Households with 5,890 residents.

A total of 654,657 New Yorkers are served by NYCHA's Public Housing and Section 8 Programs. If NYCHA was a city, it would rank 20thh in population size in the United States, with New York City ranked first. (as per July 2008 – Bureau of the Census). Based upon the 2008 New York City Housing and Vacancy Survey (HVS) and the most recent population estimate for New York City (July 2008) respectively, NYCHA Public Housing represents 8.4% of the City's rental apartments and is home to 4.8% of the City's population

• NYCHA residents and Section 8 voucher holders combined occupy 13.2% of the City's rental apartments and comprise 7.8% of New York City's population
  
  CONVENTIONAL PUBLIC HOUSING (as of February 2, 2010)
  
• The Bronx has 90 developments with 44,479 apartments
• Brooklyn has 100 developments with 58,501 apartments
• Manhattan has 102 developments with 53,887 apartments
• Queens has 26 developments with 17,144 apartments
• Staten Island has 10 developments with 4,357 apartments
• Six (6) developments consisting of FHA Acquired Homes are located in more than one borough and total 188 apartments
• 42 developments are for seniors only; 15 seniors-only buildings exist within mixed-population developments
• NYCHA has more than 10,000 apartments designated for seniors only
• There also are 7,695 retrofitted apartments for families of persons who are mobility impaired as of February 2010
  
  SECTION 8 LEASED HOUSING PROGRAM
  
• 102,062 apartments were rented as of December 31, 2009
• A total of 2,204 of these apartments, known as Portability Vouchers, are located outside of New York City
• There are 256,882 residents in Section 8 units 
• There are 33,327 participating-private landlords

• As of January 4, 2010:
  
• Families in the Conventional and Section 8 programs pay no more than 30% of their family income for rent. The rent difference is subsidized by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
• Average family income in Conventional Public Housing is $23,187
• 49.5% of NYCHA Residents have a total household income below the Poverty Line
• Average monthly rent is $408
• Working families account for 47.4% of NYCHA families
• 11.9% of NYCHA families receive public assistance
• Social Security, SSI, a pension, Veteran's benefits, etc., support 41.9% of NYCHA families
• 35.4% of the households are headed by persons over 62 years-of-age
• 36.8% of the NYCHA population are minors under 21 and 29.7% are minors under 18

• On January 31, 2010 There Were:
• 130,742 families on the waiting list for Conventional Public Housing (including 9,673 who are in the certification process) 
• 124,760 families on the waiting list for Section 8 Housing (including 3,343 who are in the certification process). The Section 8 waiting list reopened on February 12, 2007 and subsequently closed on May 14, 2007 
• 27,869 applicants on both lists

NYCHA’s computerized Tenant Selection and Assignment Plan (TSAP) impartially chooses the next applicant for an apartment based on need priorities assigned to each applicant family and matches them to available vacancies as they arise. The TSAP system eliminates any and all interference from external entities and guarantees impartial selection of applicants for vacant apartments based strictly on the need priorities.

• The turnover rate in calendar year 2009 for NYCHA conventional public housing apartments was 3.21%
• The vacancy rate of apartments available for occupancy was 0.56% as of February 2, 2010
• Because of the varied need priorities that comprise a family’s TSAP profile and the low turnover and vacancy rates of apartments, it is virtually impossible to establish an average waiting time for a family to enter conventional public housing. Some applicants can be matched up with an available apartment in months, while others often have to wait years.

• Queensbridge Houses in Queens with 3,142 apartments is the largest development in the City
• Brooklyn's largest development is Red Hook Houses with 2,878 apartments
• Manhattan's largest development is Baruch Houses with 2,391 apartments
• Edenwald Houses in the Bronx is the largest with 2,036 apartments
• Stapleton Houses with 693 apartments is the largest development in Staten Island

New York City's Public Housing is constantly modernized and improved to preserve its availability for future generations. In the past 18 years, NYCHA has invested more than $6.1 billion in preserving our buildings. Under the 2009 American Recovery and Investment Act (Stimulus), NYCHA was awarded $423 million for Capital Improvements.

• As of February 2, 2010: Three developments are at least 70 years old; a total of 21 developments are at least 60 years old; there are 64 developments 50 to 59 years old; another 80 developments are 40 to 49 years old, and 83 developments are 30 to 39 years old.

NYCHA doesn't just provide a place to live. There are a wide variety of programs offered by NYCHA that are geared specifically to special age or special needs groups such as children, teens, single-parents, seniors, substance abusers, and victims of domestic violence, among others. NYCHA oversees a network of over 400 community facilities that include community centers, senior centers, health care centers, day care and Head Start educational centers.

Programs at many of these centers include sports, photography, painting, literacy classes and general education courses, computer training, arts and crafts, childcare feeding and lunch, and senior companion initiatives.