Browse agencies
Grouped by how most New Yorkers file things.
Featured
Housing
- Department of Buildings Permits, inspects, and enforces code on private construction. DOB issues construction permits, Certificates of Occupancy, Stop Work Orders, and the full ECB violation regime. Complaints about illegal or unsafe construction are filed via 311 and opened as DOB complaints.
- Department of Housing Preservation & Development Enforces the housing maintenance code for private (non-NYCHA) residential buildings. Handles heat, hot water, leaks, mold, pests, lead, and most conditions a landlord is legally responsible for fixing. Tenants file via 311; HPD inspectors respond and issue violations. Building-level violation history is public on HPDONLINE.
- New York City Housing Authority Owns and operates NYC public housing and administers Section 8 (Housing Choice Voucher) for New York City's portion of the program. Work orders, annual rent recertification, transfers, waitlist status, and rent payments all happen through MyNYCHA, the Self-Service portal, or the Customer Contact Center.
Sanitation
Transportation
- Department of Finance Collects parking-ticket and camera-violation revenue, runs the parking- ticket hearing system, and operates New York City's tow pounds. For most users DOF is the agency you deal with after getting a ticket — looking up fines, pleading not guilty, recovering a towed car, or clearing a boot. DOF also administers property tax, exemptions (SCHE/DHE/STAR), and New York City's business tax filings.
- Department of Transportation Owns street infrastructure, traffic signals, parking signage, crosswalks, and bike and bus lanes. Potholes are filed to 311 but fulfilled by DOT crews; most DOT-owned conditions (signs, signals, crosswalks, speed humps) are reported via 311 and tracked as DOT service requests.
- Metropolitan Transportation Authority Runs the subway, buses, Access-A-Ride, Staten Island Railway, and regional rail (LIRR, Metro-North). For real-time subway and bus arrivals we route to the Official MTA App; for LIRR/Metro-North we point at TrainTime; for service alerts we surface MTA's public feed directly. Access-A-Ride (paratransit) and Reduced-Fare applications are their own intake channels.
- NYC Ferry NYC Ferry is operated by Hornblower under contract with NYCEDC. Six routes connect waterfronts across the five boroughs (separate from the free Staten Island Ferry run by DOT). Tickets are bought via the NYC Ferry app, on the web, or at vending machines at landings.
Benefits
Consumer
- Department of Consumer and Worker Protection NYC's consumer protection and business licensing agency. Licenses home- improvement contractors, tobacco retailers, sidewalk cafes, laundromats, electronics dealers, and dozens of other categories. Investigates unfair business practices, price-gouging, and paid-sick-leave violations. Complaints are filed via 311 and tracked as DCWP cases.
- Department of Health and Mental Hygiene NYC's public-health authority. Handles restaurant inspections and food complaints, vital records (birth and death certificates), the rat inspection program, vaccine records, beach advisories, and food-safety reporting. Mental-hygiene programs (including 988 / NYC Well) are also under DOHMH.
Seniors
Immigrants
General
- NYC 311 The front door to non-emergency city services. Routes complaints, service requests, and information questions to the correct agency, and is the single phone number most users should call for anything that isn't a life-safety emergency.
- NYC Public Schools Runs the nation's largest public school system — pre-K, 3-K, elementary, middle, high school, and specialized programs. Most family-facing processes (applications, zoned-school lookup, report cards, transportation) run through MySchools and NYC Schools Account (NYCSA).