Each year, New York City and state agencies fund tens of thousands of apartments with on-site services for some of the city’s most vulnerable people. But as of June, more than 5,000 of those supportive housing units sat empty.

Policymakers say new legislation could help change that. A measure approved by the City Council on Wednesday is intended to address the chronic vacancy problem by requiring the city’s social services agency to post information on the number of empty apartments and the reason why no one has moved into each one.

The city has more than 40,000 supportive housing units for people with serious mental illness or other special needs, many of whom move in from homeless shelters, and at times, the streets . The units and services, like mental health counseling and case

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