Heat Seek

Mission

In New York City, landlords are required to provide access to heat in residential apartments during the winter. And yet, last winter alone the city received over 200,000 heat-related complaints, concentrated in lower-income neighborhoods throughout Upper Manhattan, the Bronx, and Brooklyn. When a cold snap hits, the city has been known to receive upwards of 5,000 heat complaints in a single day.

Although heat is consistently the #1 complaint during the winter, less than 4% of heat complaints result in a violation being issued to the landlord. Thousands of New Yorkers are freezing in their homes, with few resources to get the heat turned up.

Heat Seek helps tenants resolve their home heating issues by providing the objective, reliable temperature data they need to expose the problem and hold their landlords accountable. Working closely with tenants, tenant organizers, public interest attorneys, and city officials, we install proprietary temperature sensors and offer technical expertise to assist tenants in documenting when their landlords fail to provide adequate heat during the wintertime.

Organization Information