Stronger After The Storm

How NYCHA is Preparing Gowanus Houses for The Next Hurricane

Additional reporting provided by fellow Newmark graduate students Elaine Sanders, Apolline Lamy, and Perry Gregory.

The southern side of the Gowanus Houses development in Brooklyn’s Boreum Hill neighborhood. Credit: Elaine Sanders

Thirteen years after Hurricane Sandy, New York City’s public housing agency is still working on renovations and repairs that will make climate-vulnerable NYCHA developments more resilient to future storms. Developments near the city’s coastline, like Gowanus Houses in eastern Brooklyn, felt the brunt of Sandy’s 80 mph winds, heavy rainfall, and storm surges that led to heavy flooding—a disaster that some residents vividly recall.

“I don't ever want to go back to that. Very horrible. We couldn't come down for emergency necessities,” says Angie Estrada, a more-than-20-year resident of NYCHA’s Gowanus Houses, reflecting on her experience with Hurricane Sandy.

“I had three small girls, so it was really hard.”

Long after Sandy flooded basements and inundated water and electrical systems throughout New York City, near-coastal Gowanus Houses are still recovering from the damage.

The historic storm prompted a slew of renovation projects funded by FEMA and headed by the NYCHA Recovery Resilience Department. Since 2019, NYCHA has invested over $209 million in the upgrades across its portfolio. Some of these updates offer more robust protection against future floods and storms, though the construction process has been long, complex, and expensive.  

The nearby Gowanus Canal, which is currently undergoing a federally-designated contaminant cleanup. Residents say when it overflows, you can smell the “black mayonnaise” in the air on hot days. Credit: Elaine Sanders

For the 2,604 residents that live across the 16 Gowanus Houses buildings, sea level rise and storm surge are a major concern. The entire complex lies in the floodplain with its southeastern buildings situated only a block away from the Gowanus Canal, making the neighborhood particularly vulnerable to groundwater and canal flooding. This is especially dangerous for Gowanus Houses residents, as the canal is filled with coal tar, sewage, and other contaminants. During Hurricane Sandy, the canal overflowed and dumped these toxins into nearby basements. Though the Canal’s federally-funded Superfund cleanup project is ongoing, the next big storm could bring about another toxic flood.


The Recovery Resilience Department, a new division of NYCHA created after Sandy, leads the charge in upgrades designed to protect developments from future climate impacts. Beginning in 2021, the department used FEMA funding for development-wide weatherization projects and heating system upgrades at Gowanus Houses.

Weatherization is the process of hardening a building against harsh weather events like wind and rain, extreme humidity, snow, or sun damage. Because weatherized renovations protect the interior of a building from temperature changes outside, it also generally improves the energy efficiency of a building. It also increases a building’s resilience by sealing cracks, protecting heating and cooling systems, and insulating apartments from water absorption and mold during floods.

At the Gowanus Houses, weatherization construction began in 2016 and completed in 2021. This project primarily focused on upgrading building’s insulation. 

According to NYCHA, the upgrades included replacing aging doors and windows and weather sealing the exterior. Weather sealing is the process of resolving gaps and cracks around the edges of door frames and windows with caulk or tape. This helps to keep water out, but also prevents the cold air from escaping in the summer. The updated windows are double-pane and weather resistant, protecting units against leakage during storms. 

Cladding, a weather-protective building material, was also affixed to some buildings, helping protect poorly insulated areas of the building from leaking heat during the winter. Ceramic flooring was also installed across the development. Highly water resistant, ceramic provides additional weather-proofing to flooring at risk of flooding.  

When Hurricane Ida hit in 2021, the weatherization upgrades at the Gowanus houses were a few months away from completion. The storm devastated parts of the city, and 11 people died in basements in New York City.

With weatherization upgrades complete, NYCHA is now working on improving the heating system across 16 buildings. The estimated $39 million project broke ground at the Gowanus Houses in September of 2022 and is expected to be completed by September 2025. The project, which is both federally and state funded, is currently 64% complete.

South and East Brooklyn are at the highest risk of basement flooding, according to The Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Moving boilers from easily-flooded basements to a place where storms won’t disrupt or damage the development’s heating system is a major part of these heating upgrades.


To combat this flooding risk, NYCHA is currently constructing a building to house these boilers in a centralized location, avoiding potential heating outages and expensive repairs from flooding. Gowanus Houses is not the only development revamping their boiler system; NYCHA is currently replacing 300 boilers citywide, and according to their website, it should be the last round of boiler replacements.

The Gowanus Houses boilers were moved out of basements and into a new above-ground facility, keeping them protected from floods. Credit: Elaine Sanders

Another arm of the project includes installing new central heating plants and replacing and/or removing apartment radiators, helping to meet minimum apartment temperature requirements. These regulations help keep residents safe: like extreme heat, low temperatures during winter months can cause a slew of health effects, like poor respiratory and cardiovascular outcomes.

According to residents, Gowanus Houses seem to be perpetually under construction—and NYCHA is not always communicative about these ongoing projects. Despite these evergreen issues, the Recovery Resilience upgrades are designed to provide necessary climate upgrades to keep residents—and the buildings they live in—better prepared when the next storm comes. 

As Resident Angie Estrada says, “You just gotta roll with the punches, you know?”