UNLOCK NYC: TOOLS FOR A FAIR HOUSING SEARCH

PROJECT a set of co-designed, tech-enabled tools that allow New Yorkers to easily report housing discrimination and that support the broader movement for fair housing in NYC.

TEAM MEMBERS Ashley Eberhart, Jessica Valencia, Madeline Avram Blount, Manon Vergerio

COMMUNITY PARTNERS Neighbors Together, Communities Resist

LOCATION New York City

FUNDING Robin Hood Foundation, Awesome Foundation

LINK TO FULL SITE Unlock NYC

Since the summer of 2019, I have been working with an interdisciplinary team to bring to life Unlock NYC - an all-women run tech collaborative with the mission to make the apartment search process transparent, fair, and free from discrimination for all New Yorkers. Our highly-collaborative team brings together backgrounds in participatory design, software engineering, tenant organizing, and lived experience, positioning us uniquely to co-design inclusive technology with New Yorkers directly impacted by housing injustice. On December 31, 2020, we’ve launched our first tool, a chatbot that allows New Yorkers to report housing discrimination right from their phone. Read on to learn more about our story and process.

OUR STORY

Our founding team met through Blue Ridge Labs @ Robin Hood, a social impact incubator that brings together technologists, designers, and communities to address critical problems facing New Yorkers through new and untested solutions. During our research, we heard stories from dozens of New Yorkers who were repeatedly and unlawfully denied access to a home, simply because they received government assistance to pay for rent. Whether they were staying in a family shelter, doubled-up with friends or relatives, or trying to leave a precarious living arrangement, they would call an apartment listing to schedule a viewing and hear the same thing again and again: “No programs,” “The landlord prefers a working professional,” or “We don’t take your type of voucher here."

These practices, officially called "source of income discrimination" and commonly known as "voucher discrimination," have been illegal in NYC since 2008, but still impact thousands of New Yorkers with housing assistance vouchers or subsidies, including CityFHEPS, FHEPS, Section 8, HASA, and more. Often hiding in plain sight, discrimination happens in a split second over the phone, and can be tough to recognize, let alone document. As a result, countless New Yorkers remain homeless or in unsafe housing situations for months, if not years, and those who discriminate routinely benefit from breaking the law.

OUR APPROACH

At Unlock NYC, we work with New Yorkers impacted by housing discrimination to build technology that makes it easy to identify, record, and report unfair treatment. Our users can choose to send their report to a fair housing agency that will take legal action on their behalf, or to add their story to our growing body of data on housing discrimination in New York City. Armed with this knowledge, we collaborate with advocates, organizers, and public agencies to hold discriminators accountable and push for stronger fair housing policies. Our vision is a New York City where everyone can find a safe, healthy, and secure place to call home.

As part of our commitment to center lived experience as expertise, we launched our inaugural Leadership Collective cohort in October 2020. As close collaborators and advisors to the Unlock NYC team, Leadership Collective members help shape the direction of our organization, and make sure that the knowledge, ideas, and vision of New Yorkers directly impacted by housing discrimination are at the heart of our work. Each Leadership Collective member brings a unique perspective and a set of skills to help inform strategic decisions.

2020 marked many milestones for our team despite a tumultuous year. We completed a participatory rebranding process, ran a pilot with a community partner to test and refine our first tool before launching it publicly on December 31, strengthened our inclusive governance structure, and cultivated relationships with partners and allies in the movement through our involvement in the #HomelessCantStayHome campaign. Looking ahead at 2021, we look forward to bringing our tools to more New Yorkers and continuing to mobilize with our partners in the fight for fair housing. You can read more about our work in FastCompany, BKLYNER, and the Indypendent.