NYC drops $38 million to heat 712 Queens apartments without a single gas line

Queens public housing gets a big upgrade

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced a $38.4 million investment on Feb. 4, 2026, to install electric heat pumps at every home in NYCHA’s Beach 41st Street Houses in Edgemere, Queens.

The project covers all 712 apartments and will replace an aging gas boiler system that has outlived its useful life.

The mayor made the announcement during a cold snap that had gripped the city for more than two weeks, with a steam leak active at the property at the time.

Residents get heat, cooling and control

The new heat pumps will bring more consistent heating in winter and efficient cooling in bedrooms and living rooms during summer.

Residents will also get something the old steam system never offered: individual temperature controls. Each person will be able to set their own thermostat instead of relying on a shared system.

Hot water reliability will also improve. The full installation across the development is expected to take about two years to complete.

Far Rockaway has waited a long time

Beach 41st Street Houses sits on the Rockaway Peninsula in Far Rockaway, Queens, a neighborhood local officials have described as historically overlooked and underinvested.

The area was hit hard by Hurricane Sandy in 2012, when families went weeks without power or heat. The Rockaways also hold one of the largest concentrations of public housing in all of Queens.

For many residents, the Feb. 4 announcement arrived after years of watching the neighborhood struggle to get basic needs met.

A city program designed this heat pump

The Clean Heat for All Challenge launched in 2021 through a partnership among NYCHA, the New York Power Authority (NYPA), and the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA).

The program asked manufacturers to build a heat pump that could fit through a standard window without major electrical upgrades. Two companies won contracts: Midea America for 20,000 units and Gradient for 10,000 units.

The window-mounted pumps plug into a standard wall outlet and take about two hours to install.

A Queens pilot showed strong early results

NYCHA first tested the heat pumps in 2023 at Woodside Houses in Queens, starting with 72 units across two buildings.

According to an analysis by NYCHA, the heat pumps reduced heating energy use by about 86% compared to the old gas-powered steam system. Heating costs dropped by roughly 50%, even though electricity costs more than gas.

About 89% of residents who got the new units reported satisfaction.

Pilot apartments also held more consistent temperatures than units still running on the old steam system.

Woodside becomes the first full building retrofit

In late 2025, Woodside Houses became the first NYCHA property to finish a full-building heat pump retrofit, with 150 units installed.

The window heat pumps cost about $3,000 per unit, compared to roughly $38,000 for a traditional heat pump in a NYCHA apartment.

Residents said they gave away their personal electric and oil heaters because the new system made them unnecessary. NYCHA plans to expand to the remaining buildings at Woodside starting in summer 2026.

The city sets sights on 10,000 apartments

The city’s goal is to bring Clean Heat for All to more than 10,000 NYCHA apartments by 2030. NYCHA has bought more than 5,000 heat pumps so far.

Bay View Houses in Brooklyn, which has about 1,600 apartments, is next in line and is expected to begin installations in spring 2026.

The longer-term plan calls for 30,000 window heat pumps across NYCHA developments over the next several years, with Beach 41st Street now added to the list.

The repair backlog is enormous

NYCHA is the largest public housing authority in North America, with more than 177,000 apartments.

The authority faces an estimated $78 to $80 billion in total repair needs across its portfolio, with about $60 billion tied primarily to boiler and heating system replacements.

Federal funding has declined for decades, and living conditions have deteriorated across the system.

The city plans to spend about $1.27 billion in the next fiscal year on NYCHA improvements, well short of the total need.

Heat pumps cost less to run

Heat pumps are more efficient than gas systems because they move heat rather than burn fuel to create it.

The Woodside pilot showed heating costs were cut roughly in half, even with electricity priced higher than natural gas per unit.

Residents also gain control over their own temperature, which cuts waste from the old steam system. With that old setup, overheating was common, and tenants routinely opened windows in winter to cool down.

The old steam systems are also expensive for NYCHA to maintain.

Not every resident cheered the news

Many residents welcomed the investment after years of unreliable heat, but not everyone was sold.

Council Member Selvena Brooks-Powers said Far Rockaway residents have lived too long with aging systems that fail to meet basic needs.

Some residents expressed frustration at the announcement, questioning whether political visits would lead to real change.

Mayor Mamdani acknowledged that skepticism directly, saying he understood why New Yorkers had lost faith in politics.

What happens next at Beach 41st Street

Workers will first repair the active steam leak at the property before heat pump installation begins. After that, the two-year installation process starts.

Once complete, Beach 41st Street Houses will be among the first NYCHA developments fully converted to the new system.

The project also fits into Mayor Mamdani’s broader plan to double the city’s capital investment in NYCHA for long-term repairs across the system.

A big step, but a fraction of the need

The $38.4 million investment will make a direct difference for 712 households, but it covers a small slice of NYCHA’s repair backlog.

The authority also faces over 610,000 open work orders as of mid-2024, and NYCHA receives roughly $1.29 billion annually in federal operating subsidy, which does not cover all needs.

Federal housing support has been shrinking for years, and further cuts may come.

Advocates and officials say it will take sustained investment from every level of government to address NYCHA’s infrastructure needs.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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