Resiliency

HPD's Climate and Social Resiliency Planning and Policy Unit ensures the agency's planning and policy initiatives promote household and community access to safe, quality, and affordable housing, even in the face of current and future risks from climate change, and other physical, economic, and social shocks and stressors.

HPD advances this mission by undertaking post-disaster housing recovery and climate adaptation studies, performing neighborhood and site-scale climate analysis, and managing resiliency planning and coordination for HPD-owned properties. HPD's resiliency work is informed by the City's climate action plan PlaNYC: Getting Sustainability Done and the goals set in Housing Our Neighbors: A Blueprint for Housing and Homelessness

Climate Challenges Impacting Affordable Housing in NYC

PlaNYC committed NYC to protecting New Yorkers from higher temperatures, extreme rainfall and coastal flooding, including implementing a multi-layered strategy for flood resiliency and maximizing access to indoor cooling. Thousands of New Yorkers live in housing that is vulnerable to the effects of climate change today. Read more about how the City is preparing for climate change challenges facing New Yorkers.

More New Yorkers die from heat every year than from any other type of extreme weather. 85% of NYC heat-stroke deaths happened after exposure to heat inside the home. New Yorkers' exposure to extreme heat events is made worse by the Urban Heat Island Effect caused by the concentration of heat-absorbing land cover, underinvestment in open space, and historic redlining practices that led to heat impacts being disproportionately concentrated in low-income communities and communities of color today.

Extreme rainfall events can release heavy amounts of rainwater, overwhelming local drainage systems and flooding homes, with potential deadly consequences as was evidenced by Hurricane Ida in 2021. The New York City Panel on Climate Change (NPCC) anticipates increased risks from stormwater flooding by the 2080s, with NYC possibly experiencing as much as 25 percent more annual rainfall than today, and 1.5 times as many days with more than one inch of rain.

By the 2050's, the NPCC projects the number of people living in homes within the high-risk floodplain will nearly double to 800,000 residents. Communities already vulnerable to flooding will see more severe storms, while some inland communities will be newly vulnerable to coastal storms as a result of sea level rise.

HPD's Approach to Resiliency Planning

HPD plans for climate hazards through a number of important initiatives.

Establishing forward looking building design requirements within HPD's Design Guidelines for New Construction and Design Guidelines for Preservation that ensure all HPD-assisted affordable homes, and the residents who live in them, remain safe and resilient in the face of current and future hazards from sea level rise, stormwater flooding and increasing heat.

Ensuring that New York remains a resilient and sustainable city while planning for the preservation and development of affordable housing through HPD's neighborhood planning work, such as in Edgemere and the Jewel Streets. Read more about HPD's neighborhood planning work here.

Undertaking key disaster preparedness and recovery studies focused on housing recovery and resiliency. Learn more about some of the important citywide initiatives underway following Hurricane Ida.

Supporting vulnerable tenants and homeowners through outreach and education initiatives:

FloodHelpNY is an online resource created in partnership with the Center for New York City Neighborhoods (CNYCN) to provide NYC residents with information about flood risk, flood insurance, and flood resiliency measures to help them protect their homes and finances from flooding, which is expected to worsen due to climate change. Learn more about how FloodhelpNY.org assists NYC homeowners.
Flooding Resources for Homeowners: Information for homeowners to help assess the damage to your home, finance repairs, file insurances claims, and protect your home from scams and future disasters. Available in multiple languages.
Flooding Resources for Renters: Information for renters to help assess the damage to your apartment, finance repairs, file insurance claims, and protect your home from future disasters. Available in multiple languages.

HPD Design Guidelines: Incorporating Climate Resiliency

HPD's Design Guidelines for New Construction and Design Guidelines for Preservation establish the criteria by which HPD evaluates proposed new construction and preservation projects. The Design Guidelines seek to support projects that meet several core principles.

The Design Guidelines minimize climate impact and enhance climate resiliency by incorporating forward-looking building design requirements that ensure all HPD-assisted affordable homes, and the residents who live in them, remain safe and resilient in the face of current and future hazards from sea level rise, stormwater flooding and increasing heat.

Resiliency in HPD New Construction Design Guidelines: Recorded training about the resiliency requirements in the New Construction Design Guidelines. Download the presentation deck.

If you have any questions about resiliency requirements in the HPD Design Guidelines, please contact Resiliency@hpd.nyc.gov

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HPD Design Guidelines: Program Documents and Related Resources

HPD's Design Guidelines for New Construction: Establish the design criteria by which BLDS will evaluate proposed new construction developments upon application to HPD for financial assistance. (Design Guidelines for New Construction FAQ)

HPD's Design Guidelines for Preservation: Establish the minimum design standard that ensure HPD preservation projects can meet NYC's ambitious climate goals and laws while incorporating best practices for resiliency, health, and safety. (Design Guidelines for Preservation FAQ)

Climate Resiliency Design Guidelines (CRDG): The NYC Climate Resiliency Design Guidelines incorporate forward-looking climate data related to sea level rise, increasing precipitation, and increasing heat impacts into the design process for City capital projects.

Integrated Physical Needs Assessment (IPNA): IPNA integrates an evaluation of energy, water, and health needs into a full roof-to-cellar assessment of a property's physical conditions to ensure that the holistic needs of the property are addressed.

DEP Unified Stormwater Rule: The Unified Stormwater Rule (USWR) provides a comprehensive, citywide stormwater management policy for public and private development. HPD's design guidelines require compliance with the USWR and applicants for HPD financing are strongly encouraged to review the following resources:

Green Roof Design for NYC Stormwater Permitting: This presentation provides guidance to designers who prepare Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan (SWPPP) applications with green roofs.
DEP Stormwater Permitting Workshop: This training is to help owners and designers better understand the rules and the process for stormwater permitting.

Enterprise Green Communities Criteria (EGCC): The EGCC is the only comprehensive green building framework designed for affordable housing, prioritizing carbon reduction, community health and well-being, and ensuring that buildings "can withstand disasters that can upend lives and destroy whole communities."

Design Guidelines Resiliency Screening Tools

The following mapping tools are used throughout the Design Guidelines to screen for climate hazards related to coastal flooding, stormwater flooding, and vulnerability to extreme heat events.

NYC Flood Hazard Mapper: This interactive map displays current and future flood hazards for the city, including current floodplains, future projected floodplains, and high tide marks adjusted for sea level rise.

NYC Stormwater Flood Maps: These maps, developed by the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), are used for determining current and future risk from stormwater flooding under a range of stormwater flood scenarios that reflect current and future risk.

Heat Vulnerability Index: This mapping tool developed by the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) shows neighborhoods whose residents are most vulnerable to the impacts from extreme heat. It uses a statistical model to summarize the most important social and environmental factors that contribute to neighborhood heat risk.

Additional Citywide Resiliency and Disaster Preparedness Resources

NYC Building Code Appendix G: Flood Resistant Construction: Establishes Design Flood Elevation (DFE) and other building code requirements for all new and substantially improved structures in the 1% annual chance federal regulatory floodplain.

Zoning For Coastal Flood Resiliency: Creates greater flexibility in zoning regulations to meet existing building code, as well as higher resiliency standards for buildings.

National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP): Provides insurance to help reduce the socio-economic impact of floods.

Retrofitting Buildings for Flood Risk: This Department of City Planning report provides retrofitting options for ten real-world case study buildings reflecting many of the most prevalent typologies within New York City's floodplain.

Strategies for Multifamily Building Resilience (Enterprise Green Communities): A comprehensive guide to resiliency adaptations and strategies specifically geared towards multifamily typologies. Includes mitigations to address flooding, stormwater, and extreme heat, as well as strategies for energy backup and building community resilience.

Adapt NYC: An initiative by the Mayor's Office of Climate & Environmental Justice, AdaptNYC is NYC's plan to adapt to climate change.

Rainfall Ready NYC: A Homeowner's Guide: Tips from the NYC Department of Environmental Protection to help you protect your home from flooding and sewer backups during rainfall events.

Notify NYC: NYC's official source for information about emergency alerts, including for flooding and basement alerts for life-threatening weather conditions. The program is available in English, Spanish, Chinese, Russian, Arabic, Bengali, French, Haitian Creole, Italian, Korean, Polish, Urdu and Yiddish. To sign up, visit NYC.gov/NotifyNYC.

NYC Damage Information Form: Report damage to your home in the event of a flood. Reporting this information may also be useful to serve as an official record if you qualify to apply for future relief and recovery programs.

For more information on HPD's Resiliency planning work, please contact:

Resiliency@hpd.nyc.gov