Formed in 1934, the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) provides New Yorkers with affordable housing for more than 400,000 residents. As NYCHA works to maintain the structural integrity of its locations, STV, in a joint venture with AECOM, led a federally mandated physical needs assessment (PNA) and energy audit to analyze and assess the Authority’s nearly 2,400 buildings including its 174,000 apartments.

STV staff was part of a team of field inspectors who performed extensive data collection services throughout all of NYCHA’s buildings in only eight months. Field teams assessed exterior architecture, interior corridors, hallways, and shared public spaces, electrical infrastructure, mechanical systems, apartments, elevators/conveyors, and exterior areas, including parking lots, fencing, landscaping, and site mechanical/utilities. All inspectors were trained on housing standards, security protocols, and community considerations, and received additional training on software developed for the NYCHA Mobile Validity application on iPads, which was created to collect data for quality review and storage on the Authority’s cloud server. This resulting database can accommodate complex search terms to help provide NYCHA with the reports they need when determining essential federal funding costs and budget to support current and future ventures.