Dataset: NYCHA BBLs

nycha_bbls

The nycha_bbls dataset can be added to NYCDB by running:

nycdb --download nycha_bbls
nycdb --load nycha_bbls

Provenance

The dataset comes from the NYC Housing Authority (NYCHA), specifically their Property Directory's Block and Lot Guide. The main value of this dataset is that it lists off which tax lots in the city correspond to a specific "development" owned by NYCHA. Since NYCHA only provides this data in PDF form, JustFix.nyc created a scraper tool that converts this PDF into a CSV, which we then use as the raw source for this table.

Data dictionary

There is unfortunately no official data dictionary or documentation for this dataset. Luckily, most of the column names are analogous to those found in other datasets and are pretty self-explanatory, like zipcode, development, or cd (community district). If questions do arise, you may be able to get some answers by filling out a request to the NYCHA Open Data Coordinator using the form at the bottom of this page.

Tables

This dataset has the following tables:

• nycha_bbls_18 is the only table in this dataset currently and contains the data from the 2018 Block and Lot Guide.

NYCHA updates their Block and Lot Guide every few years so new tables can be added using this syntax.

Example queries

Following are some useful SQL queries related to the dataset.

Generate a list of bbls for every NYCHA development in the city

SELECT development, array_agg(bbl) AS bbls
FROM nycha_bbls_18
-- Filter out "Police Service Areas"
WHERE development !~* 'POLICE SERVICE AREA'
GROUP BU development

Grab the name of the development for every bbl that NYCHA owns

Note that some bbls are part of multiple developments

SELECT 
bbl, 
string_agg(distinct development, ', ') as development_name
FROM nycha_bbls_18
-- Filter out "Police Service Areas"
WHERE development !~* 'POLICE SERVICE AREA'
GROUP BY bbl