Center for NYC Neighborhoods

The image shows a person standing in front of a metal fence with buildings in the background. The individual’s face is obscured for privacy. They are wearing a dark green button-up shirt adorned with various patches and insignia, including stars and military-style badges. The shirt is short-sleeved, revealing tattooed arms. They are also wearing blue jeans and a black watch on their left wrist.

The Center for NYC Neighbourhood is the largest independent non-profit organisation devoted to supporting low- and moderate-income homeowners in NYC. We partnered with the Center to help launch the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development's new HomeFix program, which aims to fund essential repairs that maintain the health and integrity of their homes.

Aerial view of a cityscape during twilight with the silhouette of two prominent, ornate towers against a gradient sky transitioning from orange to blue. The surrounding buildings are in shadow, highlighting the towers as focal points.
The image shows two individuals with their faces obscured for privacy. The person in the foreground is seated in a wheelchair, covered with a beige and brown checkered blanket, and holding a piece of paper. The individual in the background is standing and wearing a red shirt. They are both on a porch with a yellow exterior wall and a white door visible behind them.

Home repairs can be difficult to afford, and few New Yorkers are aware of the programs provided by non-profits and the government to help alleviate the burden. In 2019, the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development launched HomeFix to centralise and expand their housing retrofitting and repair programs for limited income New Yorkers. We partnered with the Center to make HomeFix easier for homeowners to navigate, streamlining the coordination and expanding the delivery of home repair resources with non-profit organisations across the city, including the Parodneck Foundation, AAFE Community Development Fund, and Neighbourhood Housing Services of New York City.

We visited New Yorkers across the city to interview them in their homes. This helped us contextualise and fully grasp their maintenance challenges, and to give the Center more insight into homeowners’ day-to-day struggles. We conducted stakeholder interviews and used our insights to facilitate conversations and inform workshops with all of the partner agencies. From this, we created a service blueprint that the Center staff can reference as they evolve.

As the program grows, the blueprint will give everyone a clear overview of their roles at each step of the process. In addition to the blueprint, we developed materials that partners can reference to align on the future experience, and a video of the homeowner interviews that can be shared with stakeholders to keep homeowners’ perspectives front and center.

A person with blonde hair, seen from behind, is holding a coffee cup and looking at two posters on a wall. The left poster has a green background with white text that reads ‘Simplify the process,’ followed by smaller text. The right poster has a white background with green and black text that reads ‘Human first,’ followed by bullet points in smaller text.

‘There’s nothing like getting insight about homeownership programs directly from the people we’re trying to serve. Between this, and the process visualisations that now adorn our office, I'm impressed with the work Designit has done for us.’

Joseph Sant

Deputy General Counsel, Center for NYC Neighborhoods

SDG 11: Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable

Through HomeFix, the Center is better positioned to protect affordable homeownership in NYC.

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Details

Client

Center for NYC Neighborhoods

Industry

Nonprofit

Studio

New York

Project team

Valentina Canavesio

Christian Linsey

Vanessa Jiménez

Offerings

Design Research

Service Design

Get in touch

New York

+1 (800) 906-1497

[email protected]

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