Public housing is vital for low- and moderate-income communities to achieve greater social equity and opportunity. The New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) provides homes to one in 17 New Yorkers, making it one of the largest landlords in the region. The agency’s housing data is critical for effective decision-making internally, and it has an equally valuable use externally — to keep residents, elected officials and the public informed of completed, ongoing and upcoming upgrades and maintenance projects.

Recognizing the opportunity to optimize project data and offer greater transparency, NYCHA contracted AECOM to make their data publicly available and accessible for all stakeholders, leading to the development of the NYCHA Capital Projects & Needs Tracker.

Instant updates

The Tracker is an immensely valuable tool that allows users to easily navigate through each of NYCHA’s properties, providing detailed information and status updates for over 950 projects since 2017 that are planned, completed or still ongoing, with data that is refreshed every two weeks.

The tool provides information about capital needs and project overviews, offering more details about each project including photos, financial status, current activity updates and notices about upcoming resident engagement meetings. In addition to the online dashboard, an option to print a PDF version of the entire report or portions of the report makes it even easier to share information with those who are impacted.

As an added benefit, the tool fast tracks data accessibility within NYCHA. The dashboard paints a clear picture of a project through every phase. Decisions about next steps, resource allocation or project updates are made more efficiently by eliminating the time-consuming process of reaching out to project leads for information and relaying it to teams and stakeholders.

Breaking barriers

Because of the Tracker, NYCHA staff and residents can now instantaneously access answers to big-picture questions, such as capital needs looking out over five or even 20 years, along with smaller ones, such as the status of adding a playground to a property.

The ingenuity and flexibility of our Digital AECOM team, working in collaboration with NYCHA, has largely eliminated barriers to obtaining information about projects — creating an important resource for residents to learn, understand and advocate for changes that significantly impact their lives.

A model for asset optimization

Public agencies such as NYCHA are frequently looking for digital solutions to optimize their reach and transparency in this data-driven world. Our Tracker stands apart from comparable capital needs tools for several reasons, but the most important differentiator is its availability to residents and the public.

Similar data optimization tools are traditionally used for internal data sharing and only provide details and updates on an as-needed basis for its users. Further, since they typically do not include community input opportunities, they require more resources to fill in community access gaps. For example, when residents reach out for information regarding the installation of a new HVAC system, the question is likely circulated through one or more people — taking much more time than if the resident had instant access to the project’s status with the click of a button.

Digital AECOM’s development of NYCHA’s Capital Project & Needs Tracker is a prime example of a creative, sustainable solution to optimize underutilized data — and there’s still plenty of room to grow and improve this tool. By continually assessing and refining the Tracker’s capabilities, we will deliver even more reliable housing data to NYCHA residents and stakeholders, using these enhancements as a model for future data accessibility and asset optimization projects.