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Neighborhood · Brooklyn

Brownsville

Brownsville is in eastern Brooklyn, part of Community District 16, bordered by Crown Heights, Ocean Hill, East New York, Canarsie and East Flatbush. It has one of the city's largest concentrations of public housing: ten NYCHA developments, including the Brownsville, Van Dyke, Howard, Tilden and Seth Low Houses, sit inside the area, and buildings with 100 or more units hold about half of all homes. Between them, most residential lots hold small one- or two-family homes. The 3 train runs on the New Lots Line (Sutter Avenue–Rutland Road, Saratoga Avenue, Rockaway Avenue, Junius Street), and the L stops at Sutter Avenue, Livonia Avenue and New Lots Avenue. Betsy Head Park covers 10.6 acres.

Brownsville has 29,648 open HPD housing violations, 5,998 of them Class C (immediately hazardous). Inspectors issued 8,071 new violations here in the last 12 months. That's the 14th most open violations of 53 neighborhoods in Brooklyn.

Check a building in Brooklyn

Open HPD violations
29,648
5,998 Class C
New violations, last 12 months
8,071
2,325 Class C · 11th in Brooklyn
How serious are the open violations?
Open HPD violations by class
Class C5,998 · 20%Class B15,064 · 51%Class A8,586 · 29%Class A here includes a small number of Class I orders.

Source: NYC HPD Housing Maintenance Code Violations · data as of Oct 15, 2026

New violations in the last 12 months
By class
  • Class C · immediately hazardous2,325
  • Class B · hazardous3,318
  • Class A · non-hazardous1,871

Source: NYC HPD Housing Maintenance Code Violations · data as of Oct 15, 2026

Good to know

  • 3 train: Sutter Av–Rutland Rd, Saratoga Av, Rockaway Av, Junius St
  • L train: Sutter Av, Livonia Av, New Lots Av
  • 10 NYCHA developments inside the NTA
  • Betsy Head Park (10.6 acres) has a 1936 pool and a city-landmark play center

Before you rent or buy here

Check the buildingLook up any address for violations, complaints and owner.Read the violation classesWhat A, B and C mean and how fast owners must fix them.Work out your budgetThe 40× income rule most NYC landlords use.

More neighborhoods in Brooklyn

Bath BeachBay RidgeBedford-Stuyvesant EastBedford-Stuyvesant WestBensonhurstBorough ParkBrighton BeachBrooklyn HeightsBushwick EastBushwick WestCanarsieCarroll Gardens, Cobble Hill, Gowanus & Red HookClinton HillConey Island & Sea GateCrown Heights (North)Crown Heights (South)Cypress HillsDowntown Brooklyn, DUMBO & Boerum HillDyker HeightsEast Flatbush (Erasmus)East Flatbush (Farragut)East Flatbush (Remsen Village)East Flatbush (Rugby)East New York (City Line)East New York (New Lots)East New York (North)East WilliamsburgFlatbushFlatbush West, Ditmas Park & ParkvilleFlatlandsFort GreeneGravesend (East) & HomecrestGravesend SouthGravesend WestGreenpointKensingtonMadisonMapleton and Midwood WestMarine Park, Mill Basin and Bergen BeachMidwood
Fact-checked October 12, 2026

Independent re-check 2026-10-12: subway stations re-matched by point-in-polygon of the MTA Subway Stations list (39hk-dx4f) against the 2020 NTA boundary (9nt8-h7nd), edge stations noted; every named park and its acreage re-matched to NYC Parks Properties (enfh-gkve); NYCHA developments re-matched to phvi-damg; housing-stock shares recomputed from current PLUTO residential lots inside the NTA polygon (year built is partly estimated in PLUTO). Boundaries, history and landmarks checked against the cited Wikipedia articles and the EPA site page where used. No crime, safety or demographic claims.

Sources

  1. Brownsville, Brooklyn (Wikipedia) · Wikipedia (accessed October 12, 2026)
  2. MTA Subway Stations (station locations and daytime routes) · Metropolitan Transportation Authority via Open NY (accessed October 12, 2026)
  3. NYCHA Public Housing Developments (map data) · New York City Housing Authority via NYC Open Data (accessed October 12, 2026)
  4. Primary Land Use Tax Lot Output (PLUTO) · NYC Department of City Planning (accessed October 12, 2026)
  5. Parks Properties · NYC Department of Parks and Recreation (accessed October 12, 2026)

General information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Rules change; confirm with the agency or a professional before you act.

“Open” counts every HPD violation not yet recorded as corrected, including old ones owners never certified, so totals can exceed the number of apartments. Statistics: NYC Open Data (HPD violations, 311 service requests, DCP PLUTO) and rent-stabilized counts from DOF tax bills (via JustFix), updated Oct 15, 2026. Heat season runs October 1 to May 31; season-to-date counts compare the same dates.