New York City’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) will partner with a University of Michigan research institute for its housing vacancy survey, amNewYork has learned.
The University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research (ISR), a prominent academic survey research group, will provide expertise and technology for HPD’s 2026 NYC Housing and Vacancy Survey (NYCHVS), which measures the rate of vacant housing and overall housing population and stock trends approximately every three years, according to a press release shared exclusively with amNewYork.
HPD researchers hope ISR will help expand data collection, modernize analysis, include more language interpretation and oversee the methodology. ISR experts will be involved in every aspect of the design, methods, and on-the-ground survey work, HPD officials said.
The partnership comes after the 2023 survey put New York City’s vacancy rate at 1.4%, the lowest since the survey began in 1968, which experts and officials say is a large driver of the city’s affordability crisis. Mayor Eric Adams has made building new housing a centerpiece of his administration, and the 2026 HVS will provide the first look at the city’s progress.
Lyz Gaumer, HPD’s chief research officer who leads the NYCHVS, told amNewYork that the partnership aims to support collaboration between other city agencies to develop comprehensive policy proposals.
“We want to make sure that New York City as a whole is making decisions and setting policy in an integrated way, that we’re not just siloed,” Gaumer said. “We’re not thinking about housing on one side, health on another and education on a third. We want to make sure that those things are working together, and that we’re thinking about how we build the best policy for New York now and in the future.”
The NYCHVS, which is the United States’ longest-running housing survey, informs citywide policy choices through a comprehensive profile of New York City’s housing stock and demographics, including detailed information about rent-regulated tenants.
“It is really used very widely by lots of New York City agencies, as well as by media and academics and community groups, to understand what’s happening in New York right now, and what has changed or remains the same over,” Gaumer said. “We all should care about the survey, because it is this amazing resource for us to understand what is happening to people in our communities over this long history.”
ISR will replace the U.S. Census Bureau, which HPD contracted for the survey since 1965, a move that city officials say will help modernize New York City’s approach to housing. The University of Michigan’s social science data archive will host survey data from 1978 onward, accessible to the public.
Gaumer said that while the Census Bureau has been a great partner, HPD hopes to continue to advance their methods.
“We want to push the envelope and make sure that it is representing every New Yorker and every type of housing because this is so important to decision-making here in our city,” Gaumer said.
Acting HPD Commissioner Ahmed Tigani said in a statement that ISR will help HPD analyze and synthesize the data from the survey to develop affordable housing solutions.
“ISR is one of the premier centers for data collection and analysis in the world, and our collaboration with them will allow us to more effectively manage and access data, and by extension, serve New Yorkers and all of their housing needs for generations to come,” Tigani said. “As the start of the 2026 NYCHVS approaches, we find ourselves at a pivotal moment in our work to build and preserve affordable housing across the five boroughs. Our partnership will strengthen these efforts and help us deliver a fairer, more equitable City for all.”
The results of the housing survey will likely be released in early 2027.
Gaumer said ISR will lay the groundwork for future iterations of the NYCHVS, helping HPD adapt to a changing city.
“We want to make sure that we’re setting up for the legacy of the next 60 years on the survey,” Gaumer said. “And I think that’s an amazing group to be able to do that with.”
