York City Housing Research Articles

Police reform in public housing contexts: Body‐worn cameras, surveillance, and harm reduction in New York City Housing Authority Developments

AbstractResearch summaryThe concern of crime in New York City public housing complexes motivated heightened police patrol of buildings and the enforcement of trespass laws. The 2013 federal court settlement of Davis et al. v. City of New York et al. mandated that the New York City Police Department (NYPD) implement a series of reforms, including the deployment of body‐worn cameras (BWCs) on officers, to address unconstitutional use of criminal trespass enforcement and stop and frisk practices in public housing developments. This study employed a stepped wedge quasi‐experimental design that involved the sequential crossover of public housing service area clusters from control to BWC implementation until all NYPD housing bureau officers were equipped with BWCs. Panel regression models at the individual officer and service area levels were used to estimate BWC program impacts on outcomes between 2015 and 2019. Logistic regression models were used to estimate the impact of the BWCs on the lawfulness of officer stop reports that were randomly selected for audit between 2017 and 2019. Results show that BWC deployment in public housing reduced excessive enforcement, citizen complaints, and use of force by NYPD housing officers. Findings further suggest that BWCs can help reduce constitutionally problematic stops and frisks of citizens.Policy implicationsProblematic police activities in public housing contexts can be reformed using BWCs. When coupled with routine supervisory review of video footage, the deployment of BWCs on public housing officers can improve compliance with department directives to reduce enforcement actions and increase documentation of citizen stops.

Persistent environmental lead exposures disrupting black children’s neurodevelopment and quality of life trajectories: an under-recognized ACE in the hole

Persistent environmental lead exposures disrupting black children’s neurodevelopment and quality of life trajectories: an under-recognized ACE in the hole

Energy Insecurity Indicators Associated With Increased Odds Of Respiratory, Mental Health, And Cardiovascular Conditions.

Energy insecurity, defined as the inability to meet household energy needs, has multiple economic, physical, and coping dimensions that affect health. We conducted the first citywide representative survey of energy insecurity and health in a sample of 1,950 New York City residents in 2022. We compiled ten indicators that characterize energy insecurity as experienced in New York City housing settings and then examined associations between number and types of indicators and health conditions. Nearly 30percent of residents experienced three or more indicators, with significantly higher levels among Black non-Latino/a and Latino/a residents compared with White non-Latino/a residents, renters compared with owners, recent immigrants compared with those living in the United States for longer, and those in households with children compared with those with no children. Residents with three or more indicators of energy insecurity had higher odds of respiratory, mental health, and cardiovascular conditions and electric medical device dependence than residents with no indicators. Our study demonstrates that broadening the understanding of energy insecurity with context-specific metrics can help guide interventions and policies that address disparities relevant to health and energy equity.

“Only Time Will Tell”: The Underexplored Impacts of Lead Poisoning and COVID-19 on Pre-Existing ACEs in New York

The peak of the coronavirus-19 (COVID-19) in New York City significantly impacted communities that lived in the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA). However, these same communities have been historically reported to test positive for lead poisoning due to neglect of proper lead abatement and the removal of lead sources within these buildings. The consequences of these failed actions by NYCHA resulted in multiple generations of lead-poisoned children, which can be argued as a form of mass atrocity and genocide. The long-term neurodevelopmental and socio-economic outcomes of children exposed to lead and COVID-19 remain to be elucidated. This short communication attempts to bring attention to this overlooked matter and draws upon the scarce, but emerging, reports in the literature to start a conversation on the synergistic potential of these looming public health issues. Further, suggestions for providing consistent blood lead screening and COVID-19 testing could serve to clarify whether a “two-hit” hypothesis of a neurotoxicant (lead) and a neuroimmune (COVID-19) virus that produces an Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE-19). More work is needed in this area to (dis)confirm the potential for this “two-hit” hypothesis, and only time will tell.

Court rules against housing authority

The plaintiff was a former New York City Housing Authority janitor who filed a suit after she was fired in 2017, and one of her claims was a hostile work environment, in violation of Title VII because of her status as a Chinese American, at each of three separate housing projects where she worked.

Flexibility and Conversions in New York City's Housing Stock: Building for an Era of Rapid Change

Post-COVID, New York City faces reduced demand for commercial space in its central business districts, even as residential demand is resurgent. Just as in past eras of New York’s history, conversion of commercial spaces into housing may help the city adapt to these new market conditions and provide an additional pathway for producing badly needed housing. If 10 percent of office and hotel spaces were converted to residential use, around 75,000 homes would be created, concentrated in Midtown Manhattan. However, there are considerable obstacles to such conversions, including a slew of regulatory barriers. Allowing greater flexibility in building uses—including by reducing the distinction between short- and long-term use and rethinking the separation of uses embedded in the city’s zoning code—could help facilitate these shifts.

An analysis of the impact of rent control on New York City housing

An analysis of the impact of rent control on New York City housing

Carceral connections: The role of policing in the management of public housing in New York City

Between 2006 and 2022, the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) attempted to address the fiscal and infrastructural crises in public housing through a number of controversial privatisation strategies. This contested push occurred alongside the pervasive role of policing in public housing. The New York City Police Department utilises several policing strategies specific to NYCHA communities, collaborating with the housing authority in the management of public housing residents. This article draws on qualitative content analysis of local policing strategies and public housing policy reforms in New York City to investigate how the state facilitates the displacement of disproportionately poor, non-white, public housing tenants while simultaneously sponsoring privatised redevelopment in their communities in ways that mirror gentrification processes usually studied in private housing. I focus on the content of and linkages between public housing-specific policing strategies and privatising public housing redevelopment plans. By examining police as collaborators within public housing policy, I uncover the entanglement of law enforcement in urban development, as well as the underlying roles and relationships between the state, capital and police in contemporary urban development and gentrification. The findings illuminate the processes of carceral urbanism, where the logics of the carceral state emerge as priorities throughout the urban governance of the contemporary neoliberal state in general, and public housing policy reform in particular.

Flexibility and Conversions in New York City's Housing Stock: Building for an Era of Rapid Change

Flexibility and Conversions in New York City's Housing Stock: Building for an Era of Rapid Change

Invited Commentary: Use of Epidemiologic Methods to Guide Comprehensive and Equitable Approaches to Policy.

Despite a dramatic reduction in the prevalence of commercial cigarette smoking in the United States, children are still commonly exposed to secondhand smoke (SHS), which is a cause of various pediatric health problems. Further, SHS exposure is patterned by race and class, exacting an inequitable toll on children from families with lesser social and economic advantage. In this issue of the Journal, Titus et al. (Am J Epidemiol. 2023;192(1):25-33) use natural experiment evaluation methods (difference-in-differences) to test whether the recently implemented US Department of Housing and Urban Development policy that forbade smoking in and around New York City Housing Authority buildings affected child respiratory health. The results from their work remind us that policies do not always impact outcomes as we might expect. Given that policy is one of the most potent tools for population health promotion, this work underlines the need for epidemiologists to engage in policy evaluation at all stages of the policy life cycle, in order to discover comprehensive approaches to policy development and implementation that prioritize equity and address structural racism.

Affordable Regulation: New York City Rent Stabilization as Housing Affordability Policy

The growing housing affordability crisis is at the center of conversations about U.S. inequality. This paper reconsiders the role of rent stabilization as one important affordability tool. We investigate who is most likely to benefit from rent stabilization, how much non-stabilized renters would save if their units were stabilized, and the extent to which stabilization would reduce rent burden among households. Using New York City Housing Vacancy Survey data and employing logistic and hedonic regression techniques, we show that Hispanic and foreign-born householders are more likely to live in rent-stabilized units and find evidence of both rent savings and rent burden reduction when comparing stabilized tenants with their non-stabilized counterparts. We argue that expanded rent stabilization could be paired with policies that stimulate new construction to simultaneously curb rent inflation, protect current populations from displacement, and increase housing supply.

Community implications for gun violence prevention during co-occurring pandemics; a qualitative and computational analysis study

This study provides insight into New York City residents' perceptions about violence after the outbreak of Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) based on information from communities in New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) buildings. In this novel analysis, we used focus group and social media data to confirm or reject findings from qualitative interviews. We first used data from 69 in-depth, semi-structured interviews with low-income residents and community stakeholders to further explore how violence impacts New York City's low-income residents of color, as well as the role of city government in providing tangible support for violence prevention during co-occurring health (COVID-19) and social (anti-Black racism) pandemics. Residents described how COVID-19 and the Black Lives Matter movement impacted safety in their communities while offering direct recommendations to improve safety. Residents also shared recommendations that indirectly improve community safety by addressing long term systemic issues. As the recruitment of interviewees was concluding, researchers facilitated two focus groups with 38 interviewees to discuss similar topics. In order to assess the degree to which the themes discovered in our qualitative interviews were shared by the broader community, we developed an integrative community data science study which leveraged natural language processing and computer vision techniques to study text and images on public social media data of 12 million tweets generated by residents. We joined computational methods with qualitative analysis through a social work lens and design justice principles to most accurately and holistically analyze the community perceptions of gun violence issues and potential prevention strategies. Findings indicate valuable community-based insights that elucidate how the co-occurring pandemics impact residents' experiences of gun violence and provide important implications for gun violence prevention in a digital era.

Demonstration project to transition from gas to electric induction stoves in affordable housing units: the ‘Out of Gas’ pilot study

Background: Natural gas-fueled stoves are a major source of indoor residential NO₂, which has been associated with asthma exacerbations. WE ACT for Environmental Justice launched ‘Out of Gas’ in 2021 to investigate the feasibility of transitioning from fossil fuels to renewable energy in affordable housing. 20 families in New York City Housing Authority units in the Bronx, New York City were selected to receive electric induction stoves to replace existing gas stoves. Air pollution (primarily NO₂ and PM2.5) and stove usage are being monitored before and after the transition. The pilot will be repeated in Buffalo, NY. Methods: In-kitchen stationary monitoring of NO₂, PM2.5, CO₂, and CO was conducted for 7 days at baseline and after stove switch-out using the Home Health Box (Access Sensor Technologies, Fort Collins, CO). Cooking events were identified using temperature loggers (Wellzion Electronics Technology Co, China). Pollutant concentrations were analyzed during cooking vs. non-cooking times and compared to ambient levels from nearby New York Department of Environmental Conservation stations. Results: Mean (SD) [median] NO₂ kitchen concentrations at baseline (before appliance switch-out) were 47.0 (60.6) [34.6] ppb, 27.8 ppb higher than ambient levels during the monitoring period. PM2.5 concentrations were 17.2 (40.1) [7.3] μg/m³, 7.9 μg/m³ higher than ambient levels. Levels of both pollutants were higher during cooking, with NO₂ averaging 117.5 (125.5) [82.3] ppb during cooking versus 35.5 (25.8) [32.5] ppb otherwise. The corresponding values for PM2.5 were 33.4 (63.7) [11.5] μg/m³ during cooking and 14.5 (33.8) [7.0] μg/m³ otherwise. On average, cooking was associated with an increase of 63.3 ppb NO₂ and 18.3 μg/m³ PM2.5 above baseline levels. Conclusions: Cooking with gas stoves contributes substantially to indoor residential NO₂ and PM2.5 concentrations. Switching to efficient electric induction stoves could reduce the exposure of potentially vulnerable populations to these pollutants. Keywords: NO₂, PM2.5, cookstoves

Concentrated incarceration and the public-housing-to-prison pipeline in New York City neighborhoods

Using public housing developments as a strategic site, our research documents a distinct pathway linking disadvantaged context to incarceration-the public-housing-to-prison pipeline. Focusing on New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) housing developments as a case study, we find that incarceration rates in NYCHA tracts are 4.6 times higher than those in non-NYCHA tracts. More strikingly, 94% of NYCHA tracts report rates above the median value for non-NYCHA tracts. Moreover, 17% of New York State's incarcerated population originated from just 372 NYCHA tracts. Compared with non-NYCHA tracts, NYCHA tracts had higher shares of Black residents and were significantly more disadvantaged. This NYCHA disadvantage in concentrated incarceration is also robust at different spatial scales. Our findings have implications for policies and programs to disrupt community-based pipelines to prison.

Associations between inspections for unsafe housing conditions and evictions in New York City public housing buildings.

Poor housing conditions and evictions are both associated with poor physical and mental health outcomes, such as increased risks for cardiovascular disease, depression, and injuries. However, the relationship between these two negative housing outcomes has received little quantitative study, including in public housing where exposure to these factors and to negative health outcomes are elevated. We therefore sought to examine the relationship between evictions and formal housing safety inspections triggered by tenant complains about poor conditions. We estimated a hierarchical logistic regression model assessing associations between housing quality inspections and evictions using data from January 2017 and March 2020 on 3,746 residential buildings within 299 New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) developments, adjusting for development size, funding type, and area-level social vulnerability indicators. The average Social Vulnerability Index percentile for the buildings included in this study was 0.90 (SD = 0.12), indicating that these buildings were in areas with greater social vulnerability than 90% of other census tracts in the state. Adjusted predicted probabilities of an eviction increased from 34 to 43% in the presence of a rodent inspection and from 34 to 46% in the presence of an indoor environmental inspection (p < 0.001 for both), indicating that inspections for unsafe housing conditions were associated with evictions at the building level. Substandard housing quality and evictions are important public health concerns. Policies to enhance protections for tenants against both of these social ills simultaneously may be needed to improve community health outcomes.

A Matched Analysis of the Association Between Federally Mandated Smoke-Free Housing Policies and Health Outcomes Among Medicaid-Enrolled Children in Subsidized Housing, New York City, 2015-2019.

Smoke-free housing policies are intended to reduce the deleterious health effects of secondhand smoke exposure, but there is limited evidence regarding their health impacts. We examined associations between implementation of a federal smoke-free housing rule by the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) and pediatric Medicaid claims for asthma, lower respiratory tract infections, and upper respiratory tract infections in the early post-policy intervention period. We used geocoded address data to match children living in tax lots with NYCHA buildings (exposed to the policy) to children living in lots with other subsidized housing (unexposed to the policy). We constructed longitudinal difference-in-differences models to assess relative changes in monthly rates of claims between November 1, 2015, and December 31, 2019 (the policy was introduced on July 30, 2018). We also examined effect modification by baseline age group (≤2, 3-6, or 7-15 years). In New York City, introduction of a smoke-free policy was not associated with lower rates of Medicaid claims for any outcomes in the early postpolicy period. Exposure to the smoke-free policy was associated with slightly higher than expected rates of outpatient upper respiratory tract infection claims (incidence rate ratio=1.05, 95% confidence interval:1.01, 1.08), a result most pronounced among children aged 3-6 years. Ongoing monitoring is essential to understanding long-term health impacts of smoke-free housing policies.

Implementation Facilitators and Challenges of a Place-Based Intervention to Reduce Health Disparities in Harlem Through Community Activation and Mobilization.

BackgroundTo address significant health inequities experienced by residents of public housing in East and Central Harlem compared to other New Yorkers, NYC Department of Health and Mental Health (DOHMH) collaborated with community and academic organizations and the New York City Housing Authority to develop a place-based initiative to address chronic diseases in five housing developments, including a community activation and mobilization component led by community health organizers (CHOs).PurposeGuided by the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR), we evaluated the initial implementation of the community activation and mobilization component to systematically investigate factors that could influence the successful implementation of the intervention.MethodsNineteen in-depth qualitative interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of CHOs, community members and leaders, collaborating agencies and DOHMH staff. Interviews were transcribed verbatim, and themes and codes were developed to identify theoretically important concepts of the CFIR and emergent analytic patterns.ResultsFindings identified important facilitators to implementation: positive community perception of the program, CHO engagement and responsiveness to community needs, CHO norms and values and adaptability of DOHMH and CHOs to community needs. Challenges included the instability of the program in the first year, limited ability to address housing related issues, concerns about long term funding, competing community priorities, low expectations by the community for the program, time and labor intensity to build trust within the community, and the dual roles of CHOs as community advocates and DOHMH employees.ConclusionsFindings will guide future community activation and mobilization activities. The study demonstrates the value of integrating implementation science and health equity frameworks.

"I think everybody will have to get together for it to work": NYCHA Tenant Perspectives on HUD's 2018 Smoke-Free Mandate Captured Prior to Policy Implementation.

In July 2018, a new federal mandate by the Department of Housing and Urban Development went into effect requiring all US public housing authorities to implement policies banning smoking in living units, indoor common areas, administrative buildings, and outdoor areas within 25 feet of these buildings. Although some housing authorities had smoke-free policies in place for decades, others had to implement them for the first time. Housing authorities continue to face challenges in ensuring compliance with these policies, and resident perspectives can greatly inform measures to promote adherence. We conducted in-person interviews with 20 New York City Housing Authority tenants in April 2018. Our thematic analysis examined resident opinions on the upcoming smoke-free housing policy. Although 65% of residents supported the policy, 50% anticipated poor adherence due to expected lack of enforcement, safety issues with smoking outdoors, and general discontent with the housing authority and living conditions. However, many participants felt adherence could be improved if the housing authority optimized resource-provision and communication with tenants. Our study adds to existing literature examining tenant views on the controversial topic of mandatory smoke-free housing policies, and our interviews were conducted at a unique time prior to policy implementation in the country's largest public housing authority. Based on our results, we provide recommendations for housing authorities including: (1) information and resource-provision, (2) safety enhancement, and (3) relationship building with tenants in order to maximize policy adherence. Our study is unique because we captured resident views prior to policy implementation in a housing authority without a preexisting smoke-free policy in place. In comparison, most recent research on this topic has focused on the postimplementation period or used survey research methods in the preimplementation phase. Our findings add to extant research about tenant perspectives on smoke-free housing policies and offer suggestions to address barriers to compliance.

Hospitalizations among World Trade Center Health Registry Enrollees Who Were under 18 Years of Age on 9/11, 2001-2016.

Much of the literature on hospitalizations post-September 11, 2001 (9/11) focuses on adults but little is known about post-9/11 hospitalizations among children. Data for World Trade Center Health Registry enrollees who were under 18-years old on 9/11 were linked to New York State hospitalization data to identify hospitalizations from enrollment (2003–2004) to December 31, 2016. Logistic regression was used to analyze factors associated with hospitalization. Of the 3151 enrollees under age 18 on 9/11, 243 (7.7%) had at least one 9/11-related physical health hospitalization and 279 (8.9%) had at least one 9/11-related mental health hospitalization. Individuals of non-White race, those living in New York City Housing Authority housing, those exposed to the dust cloud on 9/11, and those with probable 9/11-related PTSD symptoms were more likely to be hospitalized for a 9/11-related physical health condition. Older age and having probable 9/11-related PTSD symptoms at baseline were associated with being hospitalized for a 9/11-related mental health condition. Dust cloud exposure on 9/11 and PTSD symptoms were associated with hospitalizations among those exposed to 9/11 as children. Racial minorities and children living in public housing were at greater risk of hospitalization. Continued monitoring of this population and understanding the interplay of socioeconomic factors and disaster exposure will be important to understanding the long-term effects of 9/11.

Designing to minimize the administrative burden of trash disposal: Evidence from a randomized controlled trial in New York City public housing

The New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) is the largest public housing manager in North America. One widespread concern for residents and staff is the improper disposal of household trash and litter on NYCHA grounds. Here we present the co-produced service of trash disposal through the lens of administrative burden; official policy is unclear for residents and options are confusing or inconvenient, resulting in significant learning, compliance, and psychological costs. To reduce this burden, we redesigned the trash disposal infrastructure – new large containers placed at convenient locations – and introduced a package of indoor and outdoor posters communicating the new policy. 53 NYCHA developments, randomly assigned to treatment or control groups, were broken into 79 smaller observation sites. Weekly counts of visible trash bags and litter were collected pre-intervention and post-intervention, over a period of 21 weeks. The average number of household trash bags decreased by 25% (p&lt;.05) in treatment sites after the intervention, and the average amount of litter decreased by 16% (p&lt;.05). Providing easier access to disposal infrastructure, complemented by community-oriented and instructional communications, significantly reduced visible trash on NYCHA grounds, demonstrating that new structures and resources can effectively reduce burdens and change behavior.