New York City now has a division that can help New Yorkers displaced by fires and other disasters return home more quickly and with greater support.
The Back Home Unit, part of the the Office of Housing Recovery Operations, will serve as a centralized hub for displaced tenants, providing a single point of contact to coordinate services, respond to resident needs, share real-time updates on inspections, facilitate access to belongings and notify residents when vacate orders are lifted.
The Back Home Unit launches alongside the Back Home NYC guide, an interagency resource outlining services available after a disaster, and a revamped digital vacate order tracker designed to improve coordination and transparency, ensuring New Yorkers can return home as soon as it is safe.
“When New Yorkers are forced from their homes by a fire or other disaster, the last thing they should have to face is a maze of government bureaucracy," New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said in a statement. "The Back Home Unit is about dignity and urgency – cutting through red tape and standing alongside our neighbors in a moment of crisis. When disaster strikes, you deserve a city that shows up for you and fights to get you home."
The unit will coordinate services across city agencies, including the Department of Buildings, the Department of Housing Preservation and Development and the Fire Department, and introduced an improved digital portal to track vacate orders, streamline agency coordination and provide timely updates to residents as buildings are cleared for reentry.
The initiative follows the passage of the Back Home Act, led by Council Members Jennifer Gutiérrez and Shekar Krishnan.
"After local fires, after every family I sat with who didn't know where to go or who to call, when even my team hit wall after wall – I knew city government had to do better," Gutiérrez said. "The Back Home Unit is proof that it can. A real office, a real team, a real budget that is dedicated entirely to getting displaced New Yorkers back home."
