NYC housing authority highlights 9% reduction in heat, hot water outages; $78M in infrastructure upgrades

Investing in modern heat and hot water infrastructure doesn’t just reduce energy costs, it also saves money by cutting down on outages. New York City’s Housing Authority (NYCHA) has reduced its heat and hot water outages by nearly 10% compared to the previous heating season.

The performance improvements were achieved through $78.8 million in heating infrastructure investments this past winter, benefitting nearly 11,000 households at 10 campuses across Brooklyn, the Bronx, and Manhattan, a statement from the housing agency says.

“This year, we saw a 9% decrease in heat or hot water outages,” said NYCHA Chief Operating Officer Eva Trimble. “And we maintained an average of eight hours for restoration time, thereby meeting our obligations under the HUD agreement. The system upgrades and equipment investments made this year are another step forward in improving our heat service.”

The improvements build on a $2.2 billion state investment for heating and infrastructure improvements through the 2021 Capital Action Plan. The focus on heating needs is being made to meet priorities set out in a 2019 agreement with the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD). Notably, the HUD agreement calls for a restoration time of 12 hours by public organizations. The requirement for private landlords is to provide restoration within 24 hours.

Heating system renovation work was completed at 10 developments across the city, including four new energy-efficient boilers and piping at Glenwood Houses ($10 million), $3.4 million for a building management system that includes temperature sensors and steam zone valves at Kingsborough Houses, and instantaneous hot water heaters for 15 buildings at Whitman Houses ($4.7 million). Elsewhere, a $1 million underground steam distribution system was installed at at Highbridge Gardens, 27 hot water heaters, among other equipment, were installed at Taft Houses ($32.8 million), and Polo Grounds Towers had its underground low-pressure steam and condensate return distribution systems replaced for $8.9 million. Robinson Houses had its central boiler plant replaced with two high-efficiency condensing boilers for about $8 million, and heating controls and building management systems were installed at Ingersoll, Whitman, Vladeck I, and Vladeck II Houses for $10 million.

The statement notes that investment for the projects “came primarily from federal and City funding. Several of these projects were also subsidized through Energy Performance Contracts, a financing technique that uses cost savings from reduced energy consumption to repay the cost of installing energy conservation measures.”