New Yorkers have logged 16.2 million housing problems — a third about heat or hot water
New Yorkers have filed 16,191,607 individual housing-maintenance problems with the city's housing agency, according to NYC OpenData. Roughly one in three concerns heat or hot water, making it the most common housing grievance in the five boroughs. The records, drawn from the HPD Housing Maintenance Code Complaints and Problems dataset, cover reports made from roughly 2014 onward. Brooklyn and the Bronx account for the bulk of the total. Nearly all of these problems have since been closed.
Heat and hot water top the list
New Yorkers have logged 16,191,607 housing-maintenance problems with the Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD), according to NYC OpenData's HPD Housing Maintenance Code Complaints and Problems dataset (ygpa-z7cr), queried in July 2026. Each row is a single "problem," the specific issue a tenant reports.
Heat and hot water dominate. The dataset logs 2,901,364 problems tagged HEAT/HOT WATER and another 2,509,671 tagged HEATING — about 5,411,035 combined, or roughly a third of everything reported.
That makes a cold apartment the city's single most common housing grievance, outpacing every other category by a wide margin.
Plumbing, paint and pests come next
After heat, plumbing is the next-largest category, with 2,058,756 problems. Paint and plaster follow at 1,865,127, and a catch-all GENERAL category accounts for 1,812,526.
Unsanitary conditions — a label that covers pests, mold and garbage — total 1,305,187. Electrical problems, at 838,108, round out the major categories tracked in the data.
The Bronx nearly matches Brooklyn
By borough, Brooklyn leads with 5,398,468 problems and the Bronx follows closely at 5,113,360. Manhattan records 3,440,536, Queens 1,984,344 and Staten Island 254,899.
The Bronx figure stands out: the borough has a smaller housing stock than Brooklyn yet logs nearly as many problems. The two boroughs together account for most of the citywide total.
Nearly all problems are closed
The vast majority of these problems are resolved, at least on paper. HPD marks 16,143,010 as CLOSE (closed) against 48,597 that remain OPEN.
Among those still open, 2,602 are heat or hot water problems. A status of "open" reflects the record as logged, not necessarily the current condition of an apartment.
How to read these numbers
A few caveats matter. Each row is an individual problem, and one tenant complaint can generate several, so 16.2 million is a count of problems, not of complaints or of buildings. The figures are unverified tenant reports, not adjudicated violations, and the merged dataset runs from roughly 2014.
To check the record for one address, you can look it up directly. Tools like RegWatch let you look up a building's HPD complaint and violation history in one place, alongside actions from agencies such as DOB, ECB and OATH.
This article is general information, not legal advice. Always verify a specific building or case against the official agency record before relying on it.
Frequently asked questions
How many housing complaints has NYC logged?
NYC OpenData's HPD dataset lists 16,191,607 individual maintenance problems, drawn from reports since roughly 2014. Each row is one problem, so the total counts problems, not complaints or buildings.
What is the most common housing complaint in NYC?
Heat and hot water. HEAT/HOT WATER (2,901,364) and HEATING (2,509,671) problems combine to about 5,411,035, or roughly one in three of all logged problems.
Which borough has the most HPD complaints?
Brooklyn, with 5,398,468 problems, narrowly ahead of the Bronx at 5,113,360. The Bronx nearly matches Brooklyn despite a smaller housing stock. Manhattan records 3,440,536, Queens 1,984,344 and Staten Island 254,899.
How many complaints are still open?
Of 16,191,607 problems, 16,143,010 are marked closed and 48,597 remain open, including 2,602 open heat or hot water problems.
Do these numbers mean the violations are confirmed?
No. They are unverified tenant reports, not adjudicated violations. To confirm the record for a specific building or case, check the official agency source. This is general information, not legal advice.