The State of Public Housing

The New York Times reported today that public housing across the United States is falling into disrepair because federal money just can’t keep up with the repair needs of aging buildings. In the last 15 years 150,000 units have been lost due to lack of maintenance and upkeep. Read NYTimes Article

A new dataset on PolicyMap shows the Physical Inspection Scores of public housing properties all across the country. These scores are computed by the Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) based on site visits to the properties and an analysis of the quality of building systems and individual dwelling units. Their purpose is to determine how often HUD should return to survey the property – a lower score means more frequent visits are necessary because of the poor condition of the property.

Zoom and pan on the map below to explore the public housing sites in the New York area. The scores are out of a scale of 100, with lower scores indicating higher states of disrepair and maintenance needed. The colors of the stars indicate the following:
Red: Less than 60
Yellow: 60 – 79
Green: 80 – 89
Blue: 90 or more

To see the exact scores as well as other details about the properties, or to learn more about this dataset, visit us on PolicyMap at /maps. The dataset can be loaded under the Add Sites menu to the left of the map in Federal Housing > HUD Public Housing.

HUD Public Housing sites and Physical Inspection Scores in the New York Area.