Overview
New York State ConnectALL, in consultation with HCR, is launching a program to connect 100,000 affordable housing rental units across the state to high-speed fiber-based internet.
Take the Broadband Survey
If you are a building owner interested in receiving no-cost fiber-in-unit installations, regardless of whether your building already has broadband wiring, use this link to complete our “Broadband in Your Property” survey: https://nys-connectall.civilspace.io/en/projects/housing-org-survey-hcr/engagements/hcr-broadband-survey/sections/1
This survey requires providing contact information as well as a basic understanding of current internet equipment and services available at your properties. The survey’s questions are relatively high-level, and it is expected that it should take less than 30 minutes.
This survey will be the first step for property owners to get their properties on a list of eligible properties. With the survey results, the ConnectALL team will gain a better understanding of affordable housing properties in our network, which properties could be eligible for broadband upgrades, and the current state of internet services at your properties. It is possible the ConnectALL Office may follow up with additional questions.
Following this survey, the team will work with Internet Service Providers to create a plan to upgrade as many eligible properties throughout New York State as possible, as many as 100,000 affordable units, including:
- properties that demonstrate a lack of access to reliable, high-speed broadband service or lack broadband competition in the property area’s internet market
- properties that are owned or managed by groups with operational capacity and readiness for an equipment upgrade work order
- urban, suburban, and rural locations
- workforce, senior, veteran, supportive, and other varieties of affordable housing
- ownership by nonprofits and for-profits alike
- townhomes, single-, and multi-family housing
About the Program
The ConnectALL Office is partnering with HCR on the Affordable Housing Connectivity Program design and promotion.
The Affordable Housing Connectivity Program will provide owners of affordable housing with new or upgraded broadband infrastructure so tenants can access high-quality home internet service at affordable monthly rates. By funding infrastructure upgrades to create open-access building wiring, the State can attract Internet Service Providers (referred to as ISPs) to often-overlooked affordable housing properties.
The ConnectALL Office will determine the market for Internet Service Providers by region, then build and launch its online New York Housing-Internet Marketplace for Internet Service Providers interested in the provision of open-access fiber services to affordable housing buildings. Through the Marketplace, Internet Service Providers will identify buildings with open-access fiber in their current catchment areas and plan for future service expansion in these areas.
Following funding deployment and the completion of fiber broadband upgrades to buildings, the ConnectALL Office will create a plan to deliver on-site digital equity and device navigation services with the support of local and regional partners. The digital equity plan will be informed by stakeholder engagement with ISPs, nonprofit partners, property managers, and residents.
For more information about the ConnectALL Office and Governor Hochul’s initiative: https://broadband.ny.gov/