About HPD

Established in 1978, the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) is the largest municipal housing preservation and development agency in the nation. The agency's mission is to promote the construction and preservation of affordable, high quality housing for low- and moderate-income families in thriving and diverse neighborhoods in every borough by enforcing housing quality standards, financing affordable housing development and preservation, and ensuring sound management of the City's affordable housing stock.

HPD is responsible for carrying out Housing New York: A Five-Borough Ten-Year Plan, Mayor Bill de Blasio's initiative to build or preserve 200,000 affordable housing units and to help both tenants and landlords preserve the quality and affordability of their homes. HPD is leading the Mayor's charge, in partnership with over 13 sister agencies, advocates, developers, tenants, community organizations, elected officials, and financial institutions.

HPD Preserves Affordable Housing and Protects Tenants 

Financial Assistance and Tax Incentives
HPD administers loan and tax incentives to help building owners rehabilitate their properties and preserve housing quality. In exchange for financial assistance, property owners are required to maintain rents at levels that are affordable for existing tenants, as well as to limit rent increases, for approximately 30 years.

Enforcement Measures
HPD's Code Enforcement unit responds to resident complaints and referrals to identify and remediate problems with the quality or safety of buildings. If the unit finds housing code violations that are not corrected, or if there are repeated violations, HPD can take a number of actions depending upon the severity of the issue.

Partnerships
HPD's Division of Community Partnerships works with neighborhood organizations, elected officials, and community development corporations to learn about the needs of residents and property owners, and to ensure that HPD's tools are effectively addressing those needs. The Division also conducts education and outreach events in neighborhoods so tenants are aware of their rights and owners understand their responsibilities and options for maintaining affordability.

HPD Develops New Affordable Housing

HPD works with affordable housing developers to use City, State, and Federal subsidies to finance the creation of thousands of affordable units every year. This includes single and multi-family housing, senior housing, and supportive housing for formerly homeless and disabled individuals.

• For privately owned sites, developers can apply for the City's low-interest loans, tax credits, and other incentives in exchange for building affordable housing.
• The City also awards publicly owned land to private developers through competitive Request for Proposals (RFP) processes, which are evaluated based on a variety of factors, including affordability levels.

HPD Engages Neighborhoods in Planning

HPD's new Office of Neighborhood Strategies is working with communities to ensure that new housing is coordinated with other essential services and infrastructure to foster more equitable, diverse, and livable neighborhoods. By understanding a community's goals, concerns, aspirations, values, priorities, and vision for a neighborhood, HPD can more effectively engage with people to refine existing tools and/or develop new tools to meet community objectives.