When HPD Fixes It: NYC Emergency Repair Charges

When a landlord doesn't fix a dangerous condition, HPD can hire a contractor to do it and bill the owner. In 2025, HPD created 23,572 of these emergency repair orders at 11,411 buildings, with contractor awards totaling $57.0M. General construction work was the biggest category by dollars, followed by demolition and lead abatement. The 2025 total was down from $78.8M in 2024 and the 2022 peak of $83.1M.

How the Emergency Repair Program works

HPD's Emergency Repair Program covers Class C (immediately hazardous) housing violations and HPD orders, Department of Buildings orders and declarations of emergency, some elevator violations, and Health Department orders. HPD bills the cost to the property through the Department of Finance. If the bill isn't paid, HPD says it becomes a tax lien that bears interest and can be sold or foreclosed on. The owner also can't certify a violation as corrected while related charges are pending.

Most work goes to outside contractors through "open market orders" (OMOs). Smaller jobs done by HPD's own staff are logged as handyman work orders. Both show up in NYC Open Data. The work follows an open violation or agency order, so for tenants the first step is getting the condition on the record (see how to file through 311). More on the tenant side in our HPD Emergency Repair Program guide.

The trend: up, then down

Contractor awards grew from $30.4M on 14,246 orders in 2016 to $83.1M on 25,602 orders in 2022. They held near $79 million in 2023 and 2024, then fell to $57.0M in 2025. Order counts fell less, from 26,996 to 23,572. Most of the dollar drop came from demolition, which swings with a small number of very large jobs: demolition awards were $46.0M in 2022 and $14.0M in 2025.

Two categories have grown steadily. General construction awards nearly quadrupled, from $8.5M in 2016 to $32.2M in 2024, before easing to $24.8M. Lead abatement and lead dust testing went from $2.4M in 2016 to $9.4M in 2025, with the biggest jump in 2022.

What the money pays for

General construction made up 17,647 of the 23,572 orders in 2025. Door work dominates: 4,295 of those orders mention making a door self-closing, and others cover windows, bathtubs, locks and fire-escape access. These jobs are small; the average general construction order was $1,403. Demolition is the opposite: only 91 orders, but at an average of $154,182 each they added up to $14.0M.

Heat and hot water show up in more than one code. "Heat" orders (boilers and heating systems) totaled $2.2M on 337 orders, and 405 of the 707 plumbing orders ($3.5M) mention heat, hot water or a boiler. Utility orders (439) cover HPD keeping gas, electric or fuel going. HPD's data dictionary says these carry a $1.00 award because the owner is billed after the utility company bills HPD; 241 of the 2025 utility orders show exactly $1, so their dollar totals here understate real costs.

Many orders never get done

An order is not always a repair. Of the 2025 orders, 12,586 (53%) were closed as completed. Another 4,686 were closed for no access and 2,491 because the owner refused access. In 1,006 cases the landlord did the work first. When a contractor shows up and can't do the job, HPD's data dictionary says a service charge may still be owed instead of the full award.

Where the orders are

Brooklyn had the most orders and dollars in 2025: 7,984 orders worth $20.9M at 4,040 buildings. The Bronx was close on orders but lower in dollars. Orders tied to the Alternative Enforcement Program, HPD's program for the most distressed buildings, were a small slice: 807 orders and $1.7M. See our AEP report for those buildings.

HPD staff handyman work is a much smaller line: 3,549 work orders in 2025 with $145,075 in charges, including sales tax and HPD's administrative fee. Most were general construction.

Limits of this data

• Awards are not final bills. HPD says the award amount reflects the initial scope; change orders, cancellations and service charges can change what the owner is finally billed. 878 orders created in 2025 show a $0 or blank award.
• Not every order is classic emergency repair. The OMO file also holds Alternative Enforcement Program and demolition program orders, and 7A Financial Assistance (7AFA) charges, which HPD says are funded separately from the Emergency Repair Program even though both become tax liens.
• Year is when the order was created, not when the work was done or billed.
• Work-type labels are ours. HPD publishes short codes; we describe them from sampled order descriptions. Categories overlap (heat work shows up under plumbing and electrical too).
• Payments and protests aren't shown. HPD notes these files don't reflect payments or disputes; the Department of Finance has the current balance for a property.
• Snapshot. Both datasets update daily; these figures are from 2026-10-12.