New Tenant Protection Tools Coming To Inwood And Wash Heights

UPPER MANHATTAN, NY — New York City announced Thursday the two winners of a civic tech competition to help tenant protection rights in the Upper Manhattan neighborhoods of Inwood and Washington Heights.

The winners of the Housing Rights Challenge are Heat Seek and JustFix.nyc. Both companies will receive $20,000 each and the chance to test their products in the Inwood and Washington Heights housing market.

Heat Seek's mission is to build innovative technology to support New York City tenants. JustFix.nyc also focuses on helping tenants, with a mission to provide tools that make it easier for tenants to know and exercise their rights.

The two winners were announced by the New York City Mayor's Office of the Chief Technology Officer, the New York City Economic Development Corporation, the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development, and the NYC Mayor's Office to Protect Tenants.

The actual challenge was part of the NYC[x] Co-Lab program, which was created by the White House as part of the Obama administration's "Smart Cities Initiative" in 2015. The program currently has an Inwood and Washington Heights site that works with 35 community partners, has hosted six workshops, and raised $150,000 to improve neighborhood life.

Here are the tools that Heat Seek and JustFix.nyc created to win the challenge:

Heat Seek: The company created an innovative temperature sensor that collects data to help back up heat complaints made by Upper Manhattan residents. Inwood and Washington Heights registered 11,954 heat complaints during the 2019-20 heat season, the highest number of any part of Manhattan, according to the city.

The temperature sensors will get installed throughout the two neighborhoods.

JustFix.nyc: The company created an SMS-based tool that tenants can use to connect with existing JustFix resources, which help them take action against landlord harassment, wrongful evictions, and other housing issues.

The platform also provides a space for community members to organize around housing issues.

The news release did not specify when the two companies will release the pilot of their products in the Upper Manhattan community.

You can find out more about the challenge on the Mayor's Office of the Chief Technology Officer's website.