My research question for this project is: Which NYC neighborhoods reported the most complaints about mold, pests, and heating outages between 2019 and 2024, and what does that reveal about housing quality and health risks? I chose this question because issues like mold, pests, and lack of heat go beyond simple maintenance problems. They can seriously affect people’s health, especially in communities already facing poverty or aging housing. By looking at these complaints, I wanted to see where these problems are most common and what that might say about inequality across New York City. My audience includes city residents, housing advocates, and local organizations who want to understand where housing problems are concentrated and why they matter.

The data for this project comes from the NYC 311 Service Requests dataset on the NYC Open Data portal. It’s maintained by the New York City Office of Technology and Innovation and includes millions of service requests from 2010 to the present. Each record represents a complaint submitted by a resident through phone, app, or online form. The dataset includes information about what the complaint was, where it happened, and what action was taken. This makes it a useful source for understanding where people experience housing issues.

For my analysis, I focused on a few key variables. “Complaint Type” shows what kind of problem was reported, such as mold, pests, or heating and hot water issues. “Borough” and “Incident ZIP” show where the problem occurred. “Created Date” shows when the complaint was made, which helped me find patterns over time. “Status” shows whether the complaint was open or closed. I filtered the data to only include complaints about mold, pests, and heating from 2019 to 2024, which let me focus on recent trends and changes after the pandemic.

There are some limits to this data. Since 311 relies on people to report problems, not every issue gets recorded. Some residents may not know about 311, might not trust the system, or might worry about landlord retaliation. That means some neighborhoods could look like they have fewer problems even if the conditions aren’t better. Also, people might describe similar problems differently, so some complaints might not fall under the same category. Even with these limits, the data still helps show where housing problems are being reported most often.

My final visualizations are on Tableau Public and can be viewed here:
https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/della.wirfel/viz/Wirfel_Della_Project1_DataVis/MainDashboard

The dashboard includes an interactive map showing where complaints are most common, a line chart that shows changes over time, and a bar chart comparing boroughs. The map uses color shading to show complaint density, the line chart shows seasonal patterns like spikes in heating complaints during the winter, and the bar chart highlights which boroughs have the most reports overall.

From 2019 to 2024, the Bronx and Brooklyn had the highest number of complaints about mold, pests, and heating. Heating complaints rise sharply during the colder months, while mold and pest complaints increase in the summer. Neighborhoods in the South Bronx and central Brooklyn had the highest concentrations of complaints, which often line up with areas that have older housing and lower income levels. Wealthier areas, like parts of Manhattan and Staten Island, had fewer complaints, which could reflect better housing conditions or differences in how often people report issues.

Overall, the data shows that housing quality and health risks are uneven across the city. The neighborhoods with the most complaints are also the ones that tend to have the fewest resources and the oldest buildings. This suggests that the city should target more housing inspections and tenant protections in these areas. Future projects could connect 311 data with public health information or building inspection records to better understand how poor housing affects residents’ health. My goal with this project was to make the issue more visible and encourage action toward safer, healthier housing for all New Yorkers.

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