HPD Builds Momentum Ahead of 2026 NYC Housing and Vacancy Survey, Announces Groundbreaking Partnership to Hire, Train, and Collaborate with CUNY Students

October 6, 2025

CUNY-HPD partnership builds on decades of work for CUNY students interested in public and civil service

2026 NYCHVS set to become City's most comprehensive survey ever

New York, NY - As New York City prepares for the formal launch of the 2026 New York City Housing and Vacancy Survey (NYCHVS), the Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) is proud to announce a new partnership with the City University of New York (CUNY) that will provide students with paid internship experience with the longest-standing survey in NYC's housing history. This marks the first partnership of its kind between HPD and CUNY, creating a unique opportunity for students to gain hands-on experience while contributing to New York City's Housing future. Importantly, this is a paid internship, ensuring that CUNY students are compensated for their time and expertise.

Through this collaboration, CUNY students will serve as field interviewers for the 2026 NYCHVS-bringing the voices of New Yorkers directly into the research process and gaining real-world experience in community-centered data collection. This initiative reflects HPD's commitment to ensuring that the NYCHVS remains a survey for New Yorkers, by New Yorkers.

This opportunity is part of CUNY's robust network of internship and post-graduate programs that help students interested in civil and public service careers gain the skills and experience needed to help their communities thrive. For nearly two decades, CUNY's Internship Programs have partnered with New York City agencies, boards, and commissions to provide meaningful, paid internships across sectors including public health, tech, finance, engineering, and housing. Many CUNY interns have gone on to full-time positions-and even leadership roles-within city government.

"As a proud alum of CUNY's Hunter College, I could not be more excited for this partnership as we launch the 2026 NYC Housing and Vacancy Survey," said Acting HPD Commissioner Ahmed Tigani (BA '07, MUP '12). "Along with our dedicated NYCHVS staff, the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research, and the everyday New Yorkers who will participate, CUNY students will play a key role in making this the most comprehensive survey yet. And who better to help us understand the realities of our city than a student body celebrated worldwide for its commitment to equity and opportunity? CUNY students are world-class, and through this effort we are preparing - and paying - them to gain valuable skills that will help them become the next generation of business, civic, and government leaders our city will depend on."

"The NYCHVS is not just a dataset about the housing vacancy rate-it's a living portrait of our city, built on the lived experiences of the people who call it home," said Chief Research Officer, Dr. Elyzabeth Gaumer of the Center for Research on HOME (Housing Opportunity, Mobility, Equity). "Partnering with CUNY ensures we are recruiting the next generation of civic leaders, researchers, and advocates-while grounding our work in the communities we serve. This effort will strengthen the accuracy, reach, and inclusivity of the NYCHVS and help us create a fairer, more equitable New York City."

The student interviewers will receive intensive training and field data collection support from the University of Michigan's Survey Research Operations unit. CUNY students-many of whom are first-generation college students, immigrants, and lifelong New Yorkers-bring a deep understanding of the city's diverse neighborhoods. Their involvement in the NYCHVS will help ensure the survey reflects the city's full spectrum of communities, identities, and housing realities. Put simply: this partnership will improve the NYCHVS and help us deliver policy solutions even more efficiently and effectively for New Yorkers.

There will be multiple opportunities for CUNY students to learn more about the internship program, with both virtual and in-person events taking place at various campuses through the end of October.

"Connecting CUNY students to paid internships not only helps us understand New York City's housing landscape, but it will also help build the next generation of civil servants and policy makers. With more than 80% of CUNY students staying and working in New York after graduation, preparing them through opportunities like the 2026 NYCHVS with HPD and the University of Michigan will ensure they continue to help our city thrive," said CUNY Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez.

"Survey Research Operations highly values the input and engagement from community members; we're thrilled to have CUNY's support that allows us to hire, train, and integrate the students with our interviewing team. There is nothing like being on the ground, directly interacting with participants, to solidify the importance of following robust research protocols to collect high quality data. I'm confident this partnership will be highly valuable to both the students and to the NYCHVS project," said Director of Survey Research Operations at the University of Michigan Stephanie Chardoul.

This announcement comes on the heels of HPD's previously announced partnership with the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research (ISR) to conduct the 2026 NYCHVS. ISR's Survey Research Operations Unit (SRO) will oversee data collection, which includes integration of the CUNY students with their staff of professional field interviewers, while its Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) will manage and publicly archive NYCHVS data going back to 1978, along with all future survey cycles.

The 2026 NYCHVS will be the most comprehensive in the survey's history. Since 1965, the NYCHVS has served as the gold standard for housing research-offering in-depth insight into population information, rent regulation, housing affordability, neighborhood change, and much more. With the inclusion of CUNY student field interviewers, HPD is doubling down on its commitment to equity, accessibility, and community engagement in research.

Together, HPD, CUNY and the University of Michigan are laying the groundwork for a modern, community-informed, and transparent approach to housing policy-one that honors the power of public data and the voices behind it. And together, we are working to ensure that we have the data we need to create the policies we need to build a New York City where everyone has a safe, affordable place to call home.

###

About the NYCHVS

The New York City Housing and Vacancy Survey is the longest-running housing survey in the nation, conducted roughly every three years since 1965. It fulfills the City's legal obligations under the Local Emergency Housing Rent Control Act and serves as the primary data source for New York City's rent regulation system and housing policy. The survey provides a detailed snapshot of New Yorkers' housing experiences, capturing everything from affordability and quality to health, demographics, and neighborhood change.

About HPD

The New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) is the nation's largest city housing agency, responsible for the creation and preservation of affordable housing as well as enforcing the housing and maintenance code across all five boroughs. From responding to over 800,000 housing maintenance problems to financing over 28,000 new affordable homes and connecting more than 15,000 New Yorkers with affordable housing in FY 2025 alone, HPD's work touches every corner of the city's housing landscape. Stay up to date by following @NYCHousing on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, and visit nyc.gov/hpd for more information.

About CUNY

The City University of New York (CUNY) is the nation's largest urban public university, a transformative engine of social mobility that is a critical component of the lifeblood of New York City. Founded in 1847 as the nation's first free public institution of higher education, CUNY today has seven community colleges, 11 senior colleges and seven graduate or professional institutions spread across New York City's five boroughs, serving more than 225,000 undergraduate and graduate students and awarding 50,000 degrees each year. CUNY's mix of quality and affordability propels almost six times as many low-income students into the middle class and beyond as all the Ivy League colleges combined. More than 80 percent of the University's graduates stay in New York, contributing to all aspects of the city's economic, civic and cultural life and diversifying the city's workforce in every sector.