1. Project Overview
Problem Statement:
HPD’s existing process for placing homeless New Yorkers into housing was manual, fragmented, and inefficient, relying on disconnected systems and outdated paper workflows. This led to delays in matching clients with units, difficulty in document tracking, and lack of real-time coordination with other city departments.
Solution:
We designed a comprehensive digital platform (HPS) consisting of a public-facing application for external agencies and a robust admin portal for HPD staff. The platform centralizes data, automates workflows, and enables transparent tracking of referrals, clients, and units — reducing administrative overhead and improving service delivery.
2. My Role
Role: UX Designer
Responsibilities:
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Conducting stakeholder and user interviews (HPD, DHS, HRA staff)
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Mapping current and proposed workflows
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Designing intuitive UI for 6+ modules including Portfolio, Client, Referral, and Admin
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Creating high-fidelity wireframes, mockups, and screen interaction flows
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Collaborating with BA, development, and QA teams during the agile sprints
3. Research & Discovery
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Workshops with HPD and DHS revealed key inefficiencies in unit matching, referral tracking, and document intake.
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Reviewed existing tools, forms (e.g., HHA, ROI), and intake templates.
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Conducted journey mapping for staff roles like Client Coordinator and Homeless Rental Coordinator (HRC).
4. Design Process
Phase 1: Defined information architecture for public & internal flows
Phase 2: Created personas for different users (e.g., External agency, HPD Intake Officer, Referral Supervisor)
Phase 3: Wireframes and interactive mockups using Figma
Phase 4: Iterative feedback cycles with stakeholders
Phase 5: Delivered annotated screen specs and user stories for dev handoff
7. Tablet View
7. Mobile View
8. Intake
The Intake module allows HPD staff and external agencies to submit, review, and manage household applications for housing placement. It streamlines the process of uploading key documents, capturing household details, and preparing referrals for matching with available units.
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Pain Point Addressed:
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Manual intake forms prone to errors
→ Solution: Digital intake forms with real-time validation to reduce data entry mistakes. -
Scattered document submission (email/paper)
→ Solution: Centralized document upload per household with tagging, version control, and status tracking. -
Time-consuming re-entry from Excel templates
→ Solution: Seamless Excel import tool that auto-maps data fields and highlights missing or incorrect entries.
9. New Match
The New Match module enables HPD staff to efficiently match eligible households to available housing units based on criteria such as household size, unit availability, and special needs. It streamlines the referral process, ensures accurate data alignment, and helps prevent unit mismatches or duplications.
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Pain Point Addressed:
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Manual and error-prone matching process
→ Solution: Smart filters and pre-filled fields reduce manual effort and improve accuracy in matching clients to units. -
Lack of visibility into unit availability
→ Solution: Integrated unit database with real-time availability and status updates. -
Risk of duplicate matches or conflicts
→ Solution: Built-in validation to flag duplicate or overlapping referrals before submission.
10. Reports
The Reports module provides HPD staff with access to real-time data insights across the Intake, Referral, and Placement processes. It allows users to generate customized reports on household status, unit availability, agency activity, and system usage to support audits, compliance, and strategic planning.
Pain Point Addressed:
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Lack of centralized, real-time data access
→ Solution: Dashboard with dynamic filters and exportable reports for quick, on-demand insights. -
Manual report creation using spreadsheets
→ Solution: Automated report generation reduces reliance on Excel and minimizes manual errors. -
Inability to monitor agency/user performance
→ Solution: Activity logs and usage reports to track agency submissions, edits, and delays.
11. Challenges & Solutions
🚧 Challenge: Frequent document handling and lost files.
✅ Solution: Designed a unified document upload, tagging, and versioning system per client, unit, and referral.
🚧 Challenge: Manual data re-entry from spreadsheets.
✅ Solution: Enabled Excel intake form import with validation, error feedback, and mapping to UI forms.
🚧 Challenge: Ensuring users didn’t miss deadlines.
✅ Solution: Integrated visual KPIs and notifications across dashboards.
12. Impact & Results
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Reduced referral processing time by ~40% with automation
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Improved data accuracy and reduced manual re-entry
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Made intake, referral, and lease processes trackable and auditable
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Increased visibility across agencies like HRA, DHS, and HPD
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Delivered a WCAG-compliant, mobile-accessible web app that accommodates internal and public users
13. Conclusion & Learnings
This project taught me the power of user-driven UX in public systems. Working with a mission-driven government agency required empathy, clarity, and flexibility in design. It was crucial to create an intuitive experience for non-tech-savvy users, and ensure cross-functional collaboration from day one.
This experience strengthened my ability to design complex systems that remain accessible, usable, and scalable.