HMWRK

What did we launch?

HMWRK is a library of critical information for all NYC tenants. Through products that pair the human experience with synthesized urban policy information, we guide tenants through messy processes and help them to make educated decisions about their current apartment.

When NYC tenants face challenges with their living situations, they become overwhelmed and underinformed, making them highly susceptible to unlawful and predatory practices by building owners and management.

HMWRK battles this problem with two distinct but connected products:

1. HMWRK.com, an online platform for users to view and share apartment information through a review forum.
2. The HMWRK Journal, a print zine that provides easy-to-follow guidance for non-online resources, as well as space for tenants to track and reflect on their own experiences.

New York’s housing stock gets less affordable and less accessible every day. Our population is outgrowing our city’s livability — and a deep disconnect with habitability is forming.

Our mission is to give control back to the tenants, to ensure they have a say in how they live. We believe in the connection New Yorkers have with their City — the connection that empowers them to not only take care of themselves, but also their neighbors across the five boroughs.

You want to live affordably, safely, and comfortably? We’ll do the HMWRK to make sure it happens.

Why is this important?

In June 2019, a slew of landmark legislation passed strengthening New York’s rent laws and tenant protections. In a larger nationwide debate over housing costs and inequality, the changes abolish rules that let building owners deregulate apartments and close a series of loopholes that permits them to raise rent.

The deal was framed as a significant blow to the real estate industry, which contended that the measures would lead to the deterioration of NYC’s housing. However, the impact has been hit-or-miss. It’s not only that landlords depend on people not knowing the law — they depend on the law not mattering to a market desperate for housing.

Right now, apartment hunting tools dominate the landscape, and give control to a different crowd: realtors, landlords, and management companies. There lacks products that crowdsource opinions and input, that consolidate comprehensive apartment information relevant to tenants.

HMWRK, and its emphasis on the human experience, can change all of this. It’s not that legislative and technical data isn’t important, but there are limits to only understanding logistics. Legislation is a mostly top-down process — it is ever-changing and challenging to understand, and rent laws, specifically, are hard to implement. Data, though bottom up, is similarly challenging — finding the information can be tedious, and it can be unhelpful when landlords use scare tactics.

By providing space for human input, HMWRK fills the gap between the technicalities of legislation and data, and the realities of being a tenant. Google Trends shows an uptick in searches related to tenancy around the time the June rent laws went into effect. Tenants are curious about their rights — and the resources for them exist.

Though we may be far from housing for all, education can keep the battle going.

How do you use it?

Our products are designed to serve users on both sides of the digital divide. The “digital divide” refers to the growing gap between members of society who do not have easy access to computers or the internet; and those with more privilege who do. As the ability to access computers and the internet has become essential to participating in many economic, political, and social aspects of our world, we think it’s important that resources respond to the needs and capabilities of users on both sides of the divide. To do this, we’ve created two distinct platforms — one digital and one analog — to respond to the needs and capabilities of the NYC tenant. Both products hold the same key educational resources. These resources are categorized into three main thematic groups (Apartment, Management, and Neighborhood) that have been shown to be of utmost interest to the NYC tenant.

• APARTMENT resources are those which are related to rent control, stabilization and building violations.
• MANAGEMENT resources are related to defining management relationships, filing complaints, taking legal action and keeping a record of filed complaints against building managers and owners.
• NEIGHBORHOOD resources are related to identifying local community boards and representatives, as well as guides to neighborhood-specific spots like restaurants and shops.

Each platform is distinctly crafted to make resources from each category understandable, accessible and digestible for tenants on each side of the divide.

Digital Format: HMRWK.com

HMWRK’s web interface gathers user reviews, personalized building information updated regularly, and synthesized policy updates, all categorized by the three thematic topics outlined above. User comments provide color to each of these categories and provide a crowd-sourced account of living condition that policy/legislation can often overlook.

User Journey

Summer Johnson is a typical user we imagine for HMRWK.com. She’s a young New Yorker who’s lived in the city for almost six months. She’s been having trouble getting her landlord to respond to requests for maintenance upgrades to her apartment. Summer’s co-worker recommended she log onto HMWRK.com to learn how she could proceed in best addressing the situation.

Summer opens HMWRK.com and is immediately prompted to enter her building address to begin accessing resources specific to her apartment. Though she initially feels ill-equipped to confront her landlord, she’s ready to learn about what she can do to become more proactive.

Moving to the APARTMENT tab, Summer starts scanning the user reviews others have posted about her building. Upon seeing that most other people’s comments are very positive, she feels a bit more relaxed about her own worries with her outstanding maintenance issues. She’s also excited to find that her unit might be rent stabilized — she plans to follow up with this once she’s found the answers to her management-related questions.

Still with outstanding questions related to her building’s management, Summer clicks over to the MANAGEMENT tab. Once here, user comments suggest that many have had similar experiences with their unresponsive landlord. First, she takes note of the management companies name and points of contact. Then, she read through some more comments to see what other people have done in response to their shared problem. She takes comfort in knowing she’s not alone in this.

Out of curiosity, Summer clicks over to the NEIGHBORHOOD tab on the site. She skims content on her community board and scans some reviews. She didn’t realize the neighborhood had so much italian food!

Before closing out, she writes some final thoughts down and closes the browser. She feels ready to talk to her landlord and knows what steps she’s able to take if they fail to suitably respond to the requests. Since she’s found another user’s comments so helpful, she’s made a mental note to come back later and add a few reviews of her own after seeing how confronting her landlord plays out.

Analog Format: HMWRK Journal

The HMWRK Journal holds the same key educational information as our online site — but is crafted with additional information about non-online resources and with journal space for users to take note of things relevant to them and work through thoughts and feelings much in the same way that online comments allow for people to express their experiences.

This analog format responds to product-development research which showed that the main way organizations get information out to those without internet access is through door-to-door outreach. By partnering with non-profits, community boards, tenants rights groups, and related organizations that serve NYC residents, HMWRK Journal will be shared with those who need it most.

User Journey

After living in his building for 25 years, John Springstein has learned that the owner of his building has sold it to a big management company. A local non-profit has gone door-to-door with HMWRK Journals and to make tenants aware of this new ownership. John is curious about what’s in the journal and opens it up.

Flipping to the table of contents — his curiosity is piqued and he starts to read.

John’s unit is rent stabilized, but he wonders if he should worry about the new owner trying to raise rent. By reading the information in the APARTMENT section of his journal, he learns that the price will stay the same. If it doesn’t, he now knows has the right to challenge his landlord and can reference the steps to do so. In the meantime, to keep a record of what he’s being charged each year, he decides to start using the Rent Tracker.

John then flips to the MANAGEMENT page and writes down the new owner’s contact information. Reading through the information in this section, he begins to realize that his old landlord never really addressed maintenance issues he had identified over the last few years. He reviews how to file a 311 complaint and decides to report a few conditions he finds unsatisfactory. In the journal section, he notes what complaints he’s filed and when.

In the NEIGHBORHOOD section of his journal, John reads about the role of community boards. He’d heard of them before but never realized that he could participate in their meetings. He has some thoughts about how he’d like to see the neighborhood improve and thinks the community board could help make these changes happen. He jots his ideas down and calls to find out when the next meeting is. He plans to attend and bring the journal with him to take notes.

Empowered by the information he’s learned from the journal, John feels ready to meet with his new landlord and introduce himself. He’ll be referencing this journal many times moving forward.

Both of our NYC tenant users start with similar problems — and have similar journeys to find the answers they’re looking for, though they may take some different steps to do so.

What’s next?

While our products are interconnected, they have distinct risks and engagement metrics.

Risks
A major risk for both product formats is that even though all relevant information has been clearly compiled and synthesized, tenants may still get confused by the complicated processes required for getting building information or filing complaints and give up before finding the information they need.

For HMWRK.com’s digital format, one distinct risk is that there are barriers to getting people to comment with their concerns on a public platform. For instance, they may be afraid of complaining about their building manager because they don’t want their landlord to see their criticisms for fear of retaliation. It’s important to note that there may also be sample bias within the site’s comment sections. Only certain people will comment with their experiences and, as a result, it might not paint the full picture of what it’s like to rent a certain apartment.

For the analog HMWRK Journal, one risk is that it may be difficult to track and maintain engagement. After they’re handed out, it will be difficult to understand how different people engage with the material. In addition, making updates to the journal requires redesign and redistribution could be costly and take a lot of time.

Success Metrics
Measuring engagement will vary considerably across our two platforms.

The main method for tracking digital engagement will be in the counts of different engagement types, including number of comments and click through rates to linked outside resources. Records of how many addresses have been input on our site’s homepage will indicate which zipcodes are more actively utilizing our advocacy resources and thus where would be good to focus future outreach efforts. Areas with little online engagement may also indicate places where HMWRK Journal distribution could be especially fruitful.

For tracking HMWRK Journal engagement, we can keep a count of how many zines are distributed and where. Additionally, by partnering with other housing advocacy organizations, we can identify NYC tenants who would benefit from journal distribution and connect with them through groups they’re already aligned with. Finally, we intend to collect targeted samples of journals for further analysis. A period after distribution, we’ll collect a test group of journals from few zip codes to see what kind of information our users are writing down, and what portions of the book they are utilizing. This will inform future development of updated copies of the zine and expanded section information.

Product Vision
The next phase of HMWRK will delve into expanding our reach through the formation of strategic partnerships with nonprofits and government agencies dedicated to housing advocacy.

We also envision the information included in HMWRK evolving to serve other housing segments outside of existing tenants. The next segment we’d like to develop targets apartment searchers. We would develop a fourth thematic resource category to provide information on the often murky apartment application process. This would open up a large swath of partnership opportunities with existing rental websites (such as Zillow and Street Easy for example).

FAQs

What is HMWRK exactly?
HMWRK is at its core a tenant advocacy and education tool. HMWRK.com allows tenants to publish their renting experience and connect with each other through its reviewing platform, while the HMWRK Journal provides an analog version of tracking and reviewing the same experiences. Both services provide easy access to the education and resources necessary to take action. Our tenant-sourced approach makes HMWRK unique compared to other top-down, traditional data-driven services. We believe that tenants can and should be driving their own movement! We’re just here to help.

How is HMWRK.com personalized?
HMWRK.com gathers information from a range of datasets on your building, landlord, management company, and neighborhood to provide you with a base to take action. We provide data on rent stabilization, historic districts and landmarked buildings, landlord and management information, right to counsel, community and council districts, so you know as much information about your renting situation as possible before exploring city-wide tenant rights and how to take action.

Where does HMWRK get all its information?
We gather information from several different databases and other sources, including the Department of Buildings, the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, and others, most of which can be found on the city’s Open Data Portal. But most importantly, we collect our own crowd-sourced data from users of HMWRK, synthesizing reviews into overall ratings, sorted by our tabs and tags for other tenants easily understand what’s relevant to them.

How does the review platform work?
We want to make sure that you as a tenant have a voice and a platform to express your unique renting experience. We find this information invaluable for other renters to find solidarity in issues, to educate one another, and to set the groundwork for organizing and action against whoever may be contributing to the challenges you are facing. That’s why we provide an easy-to-use review platform where you can post about your building, management, or neighborhood, as well as like and comment on other tenants’ reviews, and better understand the NYC renting landscape from the grassroots. Just click on the tab corresponding to your comment, write your experience, and add relevant tags so it’s easier for others to find it.

What if I disagree with a review?
In an open source review platform like ours, it can be hard to monitor the validity of people’s comments. We refrain from any censorship, but instead depend on tenants to keep each other in check. If you see a comment that you think is dishonest, say so! Each review has its own set of voting buttons to allow others to agree or disagree. Landlords, management companies, and others can also comment on a review publically if they’d like. Since we cannot fact check tenants’ experiences ourselves, what we look out for is user harassment and discrimination, factchecking is left to the tenants.

How does the HMWRK Journal work?
The HMWRK Journal is meant as a hardcopy alternative to HMWRK.com for tenants who may not have access to the internet or would rather use something more physical. In addition to providing the same educational resources as HMWRK.com, the Journal provides tools for rent tracking, recording personal renter information, as well as providing space for journaling. This is meant as an analog version to our reviewing platform, a way for you to record your experiences for your own use.

How can I share my experiences if I only use the Journal?
Sharing these experiences is a bit trickier, but we are working to strengthen partnerships with local organizations to collect and share data and experiences from our Journal users. In the meantime, feel free to share with your neighbors and the organizations provided at the back of the Journal.

What do you mean by ‘take action’?
We hope that in addition to providing educational resources and platforms for your to track and share your renting experiences, we can spur action in tenants to not only do something about their own challenges as renters, but organize with and support one another in protecting their rights and livelihoods as tenants. This can take the form of contesting landlord actions in court, organizing tenant unions, and advocating for even stronger rent protections. In a time of widespread tenant abuse and insecurity, we’re here to provide a base for you to fight back!

I’m a planner for the city, can I use HMWRK?
In the future, we hope to make the tenant data we create, acquire, and synthesize available to the city to help inform new housing policies to better protect renters, and to crack down on issues like substandard housing quality and landlord abuse. In the meantime, planners can use HMWRK.com to search through reviews and see what’s going on in the NYC tenant world!

Supplementary Information + Tableau Prototype

Summarized below is all the information included on HMWRK, separated by tab. We’ve also included a Tableau prototype to display the functions of our online platform.

BUILDING TAB
Rent Regulation — Rent regulation refers to the broader scope of rented units that fall under some level of policy protections, including both rent stabilized and rent controlled units. Both are means of limiting the amount rents increase over time, but have different conditions and constraints. There are approximately one million rent-regulated units in New York City, the vast majority of which are rent-stabilized. You can request rent information through the New York State Division of Homes and Community Renewal (DHCR). Submit a question, call the State Rent Administration Office at 718–739–6400, or contact your local Rent Administration Office.

Rent Stabilization — Roughly half of NYC’s rental units are rent-stabilized. For these units, a maximum legal rent, along with maximum percentage increases, are determined by the Rent Guidelines Board, a group appointed by the mayor. Today, the limits are set at 1.5 percent for one-year lease renewals and 2.5 percent for two-year lease renewals. However, certain loopholes are used by landlords to exceed these increases, including turning over units to new tenants, and making individual apartment improvements (IAIs) or major capital improvements (MCIs). However, recent rent law reforms have curtailed allowed increases in these circumstances. Generally, rent stabilization applies to buildings of six or more units built before 1974. The only way to find out if your unit is rent stabilized is to submit a request to DHCR. To get started, visit www.amirentstabilized.com.

Rent Control — Rent-controlled units only make up about one percent of NYC’s rental stock. A unit can only be rent-controlled the building was constructed before 1947, and if a tenant has been living there since before July 1st, 1971. Besides the original tenant, only certain family members who already live there can inherit a rent-controlled unit once the original tenant dies or moves. These units are subject to rent increases every two years up to a maximum base rent. New rent reforms have limited these increases to the average rent-stabilized increase over the previous five years.

Preferential Rent — Preferential rent is lower than the legal maximum rent of a unit, offered by a landlord as a discount to more easily fill units. At the end of a lease period, a preferential rent can be changed or removed, causing a dramatic spike in rent. Recent rent reforms have limited a landlord’s ability to remove preferential rent only when a tenant vacates a unit. For those wishing to renew their lease, the landlord must offer preferential rent. Whether you are receiving preferential rent, and what the legal maximum rent of your unit is, should be provided in your lease.

MCIs and IAIs — Major Capital Improvements (MCIs) and Individual Apartment Improvements (IAIs) are physical improvements made to a building or individual unit which can be compensated through rent increases. However, new rent laws have significantly limited the extent to which these tools can be used to hike rents in rent-stabilized units. MCI increases, to recover costs of improvement such as a new boiler or plumbing, are only allowed in buildings with more than 35 percent rent-regulated units. They must be approved by DHCR, applied beginning on the first of the month 60 days after DHCR issuance, cannot exceed a two percent increase annually. IAIs require the signed consent of the tenant. For buildings with 35 units or less, rent can only be increased by 0.6 percent of the cost of the improvement; for buildings with more than 35 units, it’s 0.55 percent. IAIs are limited to three per unit every 15 years, not exceedings a total $15,000. Neither MCIs not IAIs can be made with outstanding building violations.

Building Violations — There are a host of building codes your landlord must follow, all detailed within the NYC Construction Codes, accessed here. Alongside the reporting options provided in the Housing Quality section of MANAGEMENT, you can call 3–1–1 or visit 311ONLINE to file a potential code violation.

MANAGEMENT TAB
Landlord vs. Management Company — The main difference between a landlord and a management company (or property manager) is a landlord actually owns the property. When a landlord owns several properties, for example, they may hire a property manager to take care of basic services. In some cases, you may only interact with the property manager, but both have the same responsibilities and must cover basic services listed below.

Discrimination — Under the Fair Housing Act and the NYC Human Rights Law, your landlord cannot discriminate against you or any tenant based on race, gender, class, sexual orientation, or other identities. If you feel you are being discriminated against, you can fill out a report with the NYC Commission on Human Rights here. Find out more about Fair Housing here.

Harassment — Landlord harassment is a serious issue in NYC and can take a number of forms, including ignoring maintenance requests, unsafe construction conditions, or pressures to move out. These are all illegal actions, and should be reported. If you think you are being harassed by your landlord, you can file a complaint by calling 311, or even contact the city’s Tenant Harassment Prevention Task Force at THPT@hpd.nyc.gov. You can also file legal action against your landlord. Learn more about Housing Court here.

Housing quality — NYC tenants are legally entitled to certain quality and safety standards upheld by their landlord. These include adequate heat and hot water, smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, pest control, protection against hazardous materials like lead and mold, and others. Find out more information here, and learn how to file a complaint here.

Eviction — Only a court judge can order an eviction. Unless your landlord has filed a case against you in Housing Court, and has successfully received a court order of eviction, you are legally allowed to remain in your apartment. If there is no basis for eviction, this is harassment and should be reported. If there is basis (which must be clearly explained to you by your landlord) you still may be able to build a case for yourself.

Right to Counsel — Right to Counsel is a provision that provides free legal services for those who qualify. Qualification is determined by zip code and income. Find out if you can get a free lawyer here.

NEIGHBORHOOD TAB
Community Board — Community boards provide a variety of services, acting as a key liaison between the community and the city. Each is comprised of a district manager, a small staff, and 50 volunteer board members appointed by the Borough President. In addition to serving a vital part of the Land Use Review Process (ULURP), community boards act as advocates for their communities, with the district staff handling complaints from residents, and the board subdivided into committees focused on specific topics. These can range from land use and budget, to parks and housing, to economic development and culture. You can find your local community board online, call to ask a question or file a complaint, and sit in on board meetings open to the public.

City Council — City Council is the lawmaking body of New York City’s government. With 51 councilmembers representing districts across the city, the Council not only amends the City Charter but is meant to advocate for its local constituents on a host of topics. The Council regulates and monitors the city and all its functions, and is meant to serve you! You can find out who represents your district here.

Local Organizations and Hotlines — Each neighborhood in New York City has its own host of local organizations dedicated to supporting residents in their housing needs. There are also several citywide organizations with the same mission, including the Met Council on Housing. You can call the Met Council’s hotline at 212–979–0611 or visit their walk-in clinic with whatever questions you may have. The clinic occurs every Tuesday at Cooper Square Committee, 61 E 4th Street, and every other Wednesday at 5030 Broadway, 6th Floor. Find out more at www.metcouncilonhousing.org, and find a comprehensive list of housing advocacy groups here.

TABLEAU PROTOTYPE
Search your apartment through our prototype on Tableau (for now, only available for Manhattan residences.)