House New York Launches Affordable Housing Broadband Initiative

House New York (HNY), an affiliate of the New York State Association for Affordable Housing (NYSAFAH), and the Broadband Equity Partnership are launching an initiative to create a comprehensive dataset of building-based connectivity solutions that will support the City and State in achieving universal broadband adoption in its affordable housing stock. The Affordable Housing Broadband Initiative (AHBI)–the first of its kind in the nation–is made possible by support from the Ford Foundation and Schmidt Futures. To help guide the process, project partners will work with the New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal (HCR) to achieve three key goals through AHBI: 

1.  Build a comprehensive dataset that identifies the State’s broadband service access solutions in subsidized affordable housing, categorized by building typologies, and the estimated costs to close service gaps. 

2. Analyze the dataset to form key insights specific to each building typology to guide the building-based broadband retrofitting process more effectively.  

3. Develop a novel, statewide program that matches each building typology with a technical solution and associated funding needs and provides additional support to help ensure affordable housing residents have access to universal broadband.        

The initiative launches on June 29 and will be completed in September. A full report and proposal will be released at that time with the findings and assessment of the program. AHBI will also be scalable to other contexts and states, as it aims to lay the foundation for universal broadband connection in the nation’s affordable housing stock.