New York's Untapped Entrepreneurship Opportunity: How Expanding Entrepreneurship at NYCHA Could Help Boost Incomes, Build Wealth, and Tap into a Powerful Entrepreneurial Spirit

To succeed in creating a more equitable economy in New York City, policymakers will need to help boost economic outcomes for the nearly 300,000 working-age New Yorkers living in public housing. Although new investments in workforce training and education should be part of the solution, there is also an enormous untapped opportunity to make progress by increasing rates of entrepreneurship among New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) residents--and enabling the many public housing residents already engaged in side hustles and home-based ventures to grow their businesses. This report provides a comprehensive examination of the current state of entrepreneurship among New Yorkers living in NYCHA public housing--and what it will take to increase the number of successful NYCHA resident-run businesses. This report builds on the Center for an Urban Future's two decades of research about the role of entrepreneurship in building community wealth and creating a more inclusive and equitable economy in New York City. It documents current self-employment among NYCHA residents, explores the benefits of fostering a robust entrepreneurial economy within NYCHA, details the obstacles that prevent larger numbers of NYCHA businesses from taking shape, and examines current supports for entrepreneurship within NYCHA. In addition, the study features best practices from across the country, and advances 15 specific, achievable policy recommendations to support entrepreneurship among New Yorkers living in public housing. It was informed by extensive data analysis and draws on interviews with more than 50 small business and microfinance experts, community development leaders, workforce development practitioners, economic development officials, entrepreneurship educators, and NYCHA entrepreneurs themselves. [This report was written with Eli Dvorkin.]