Brooklyn and Queens are plagued with “zombie” properties — homes abandoned by their owners and banks that fail to complete the foreclosure process.
New York currently has 807 of the deserted homes, which can waste away for years as lenders fail to maintain them.
Brooklyn has 250 zombie properties, with the largest numbers in East New York, Cypress Hills and Ocean Hill, according to ZIP code data from RealtyTrac. Queens has 220 derelict houses, with high numbers in St. Albans, Jamaica and Ozone Park.
Vicky Thomas of St. Albans has lived next to a zombie home on 200th Street for three years. Earlier this month, a new owner finally began to stabilize the building.
“We had kids hanging out, squatters in there, and they even tried to turn it into a brothel,” Thomas said. “Johns were parading girls into the back yard. It was torture.”
The Bronx has 181 zombie homes, Staten Island has 121 and Manhattan has 35.
State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman pushed a bill that would force mortgage holders to care for the properties. It failed to pass this legislative session.
“Zombie homes are a drain on families and communities and place undue burden on thinly stretched municipal resources,” said Melissa Grace, an AG spokeswoman. “We look forward to working with the legislature . . . next session.”