New York City is launching a new data tool to gather public input from City communities to help plan for a more equitable future. According to City officials, the new data tool, an interactive website, will better equip New Yorkers with data that can facilitate challenging conversations about housing affordability, racial equity, displacement, and many other issues related to the future of New York City and its neighborhoods.

NYC Department of City Planning (DCP) director, Dan Garodnick, and NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) commissioner, Adolfo Carrión Jr., announced on Tuesday, Feb. 22, that public engagement work is set to begin on the City’s effort to build New York’s first Equitable Development Data Tool.

“Our goal here is to develop strategies that allow us to deliver more housing and jobs while also protecting ourselves and our neighbors from displacement. We want your input to make sure this still-in-development digital data tool can help us build a more equitable future,” said Garodnick.

Carrión Jr. said making sure that equity is central to the conversation about the future of the city is a key objective of “Where We Live NYC,” HPD’s plan to advance housing strategies that he said aim to combat persistent disparities. “Every New Yorker deserves a safe, affordable home, and our responsibility is to ensure no one faces discriminatory barriers to finding and keeping that home,” he said. “The Equitable Development Data Tool is one of several tools that will allow us to build a fairer city for all New Yorkers.”

The new tool is being developed with active participation by the Racial Impact Study Coalition (RISC), a group which works to ensure that the City of New York meaningfully considers racial impacts in making major land use decisions. It is a coalition of neighborhood, community-based, and planning groups that, collectively, represent all five boroughs, and most of the communities that have been impacted by City-initiated re-zonings in recent years, as well as a wide spectrum of New York residents.

City officials said the new tool will allow the public to more easily see and explore data about housing, demographics, public health, and more, while also comparing that data across neighborhoods and racial and ethnic groups as we plan for a fairer city. Interactive mock-ups of what the tool is expected to look like, and a more in-depth description of the tool are available to view here: Equitable Development Data Tool.

HPD and DCP officials said with this data, the City, along with the its communities, will be better equipped to facilitate discussion and create policies that increase affordable housing opportunities, and help New Yorkers stay in their homes and neighborhoods.

Today I held my first hearing as Chair, assessing COVID-19’s impact on the NYC Housing and Vacancy Survey (HVS) and the Emergency Rental Assistance Program. Whereas the federal government still has $45B in unused funds for rental assistance, evictions in New York are growing.. pic.twitter.com/ZOSXvy4alO

— CM Pierina Sanchez (@CMPiSanchez) February 25, 2022

DCP and HPD will hold a series of remote meetings in early March to further inform the public about the tool and gather input, as follows:

• Tuesday, March 1, at 9 a.m. (link to sign up)
• Thursday, March 3, at 6 p.m. (link to sign up)
• Saturday, March 5, at 10 a.m. (link to sign up)

In addition, DCP and HPD staff will host a remote public hearing to receive feedback on the draft tool on March 10. Details to sign up will be posted on NYC Engage in the near future.

Reacting to the news, a representative from the Racial Impact Study Coalition said, “RISC commends the work of HPD and DCP in honoring the spirit of the legislation and working to deliver this tool on time. Department staff have contended with complex data sets and lifted up the indicators identified by community members in the legislative process as being integral to addressing racial disparities during zoning changes.”

The representative added, “This data mapping confirms what we know: to build stable neighborhoods, we need stable people, stable housing, and stable housing markets that enhance choice for all households, including the choice to stay. This tool will help communities visualize the underlying conditions in their neighborhoods. We encourage HPD and DCP to improve the tool over time based on user feedback. We hope the new Equitable Development Data Tool and Displacement Risk Index encourage policy makers to enact more community-responsive land use proposals and enable vulnerable communities to advocate for their needs more effectively.”

Watch this short video explainer from @NYCHousing on how to apply for affordable housing opportunities in New York City.

Interested? Learn more and even see how to contact a Housing Ambassador for application help: https://t.co/wGuIKFGWyehttps://t.co/xJtRhDayFW

— New York City 311 (@nyc311) February 26, 2022

The in-development data tool is the result of Local Law 78 of 2021, which was adopted by the City Council last summer following ongoing advocacy by the Coalition and sponsorship from Public Advocate Jumaane Williams. The tool builds on work done over the past several years by DCP and HPD, with support from many other City agencies, to make data related to development more available and to advance more accessible and inclusive planning around community investments.

HPD officials said centralizing this information and making it operational for all types of users is one of the many objectives of the tool and supports Where We Live NYC, the City’s fair housing plan. Where possible, the data will be broken down to the neighborhood level so users can learn about commonalities and disparities across neighborhoods and demographic groups.

In accordance with the City legislation, the tool will support the creation of Racial Equity Reports for Housing and Opportunity, which will be a required component of certain land use applications that enter public review after June 1, 2022. These reports will draw data from the data tool and include a narrative statement of how the project relates to the City’s goals to affirmatively further fair housing and promote equitable access to opportunity.

Additional details about how to provide input can be found on the project site here and on NYC Engage.