Data Talks: Learning How to Use Local Data to Inform Housing Policy
Overview
As part of their regular functions, city and county agencies, community-based organizations and businesses gather data about people, properties, and transactions. These local data are a valuable source of information about local housing needs and whether a locality’s existing housing policies are effective. But they also come with some challenges.
In Data Talks, a series of mini-webinars, we tackle a variety of topics related to using local data to inform housing policy. Each 45-minute session includes a short presentation and a fireside chat with a city or housing authority partner about their experience using or collecting local data.
Join our mailing list to stay in the loop as we open registration for future sessions. Scroll to watch videos of past events.
Data Talks 1 — Local Housing Data 101
The inaugural episode of Data Talks features a primer on the benefits and challenges of using local data. Our guest is Kimberly Rubens, Chief of Policy and Research at Baltimore City’s Department of Housing and Community Development, who shared insights about how Baltimore puts local data to work (18:14). You can view a slide presentation of the webinar here.
Recommended Reading:
- Unlocking the Power of Local Housing Data – This brief outlines strategies for accessing, harnessing, and collecting local data to inform housing policy, and for building local data capacity.
- Open Data Fuels a Place-Based Approach to Neighborhood Reinvestments in Baltimore – Read more about how Baltimore uses its local data-driven mapping tool, CoDeMap 2.0, to target its programs.
Data Talks 2 — Learning About Rental Properties
In our second episode, Professor Ingrid Gould Ellen discusses how cities can learn about their rental properties through deeds, tax, and rental registry data. Our guest is Allison Pretto, Project Manager for the City of Oakland, California. Allison shares her experience (18:24) launching the city’s new rental registry. You can view the slides presented in the webinar here.
Recommended Reading:
- Single-Family Rentals: Trends and Policy Recommendations – Ingrid Gould Ellen and Laurie Goodman review what we know about institutional investors in the single-family rental market and call for widespread adoption of rental registries to increase transparency.
- Data as a Tool to Preserve Unsubsidized Affordable Housing – learn how Chicago and Denver are using local data to track and prevent the loss of affordable homes, including rentals.
- Rental Registries – Read a brief that draws on a scan of nearly 50 rental registries around the country to learn more about the key features of registries and how they can be most effective.
Data Talks 3 — Surveying Residents About Housing Needs
Our March 2024 episode addresses an important qualitative tool: surveys. Martha Galvez, Executive Director of the Housing Solutions Lab, discusses when and how surveys can be useful, and some best practices for survey design, administration, and analysis. Our guest Montana James, Deputy Director of Community Development for the City of Missoula, Montana then shares her experience (19:40) leading an in-person survey to inform the city’s housing strategy. You can view the slides presented in the webinar here.
Recommended Reading:
- Conducting Survey Research – Heather Shearer provides an easy-to-read primer on how to design, conduct, and analyze surveys.
- Community-Engaged Surveys – Eona Harrison and colleagues at the Urban Institute offer a guidebook on how researchers can actively engage the community in survey work.
- Engaging the Community in the Development of a Local Housing Strategy – Read more about how to use surveys and other methods to equitably engage residents.
Data Talks 4 — Building a Real-Time Homelessness Data System
This May 2024 episode is a collaboration with Community Solutions focusing on how communities can collect and harness real-time, person-specific homelessness data. Our webinar features presenter Adam Ruege, Director of Strategy and Evaluation for Built for Zero at Community Solutions; and fireside chat guests Mackenzie Kelly, Interim Executive Director, and Jodie Legg, Data Analyst, of the Chattanooga Regional Homeless Coalition (CRHC). You can view the slides presented in the webinar here.
Recommended Reading:
- Reducing Homelessness – Learn how policies in our Housing Policy Library can be used, in conjunction with other tools, to end homelessness.
- Coordinating with Continuums of Care as Part of a Local Housing Strategy – Read about ways that localities can work with CoCs, including sharing data, agreeing on shared goals, coordinating resources, and jointly measuring progress.
- By-Name Data – Person-specific, real-time data about homelessness is a pillar of Community Solutions’ Built for Zero methodology.
Data Talks 5 — Understanding Housing Quality
Our June 2024 episode focused on how communities can use code violation data, resident surveys, property inventories, and other local data sources to better understand housing conditions and inform home repair programs, tenant protections, neighborhood investment strategies, and other interventions.
Recommended Reading:
- Code Enforcement – Visit our Housing Policy Library to learn about proactive models of code enforcement, which can generate useful housing conditions data.
- 2023 City of Cleveland Property Inventory – Learn more about the Western Reserve Land Conservancy’s work to inventory the condition of Cleveland homes and lots.
- City Health Dashboard – This data tool includes metrics linking housing and health, including lead exposure risk, air pollution, and walkability.
If you have questions about Data Talks, contact Director of New Research Partnerships Claudia Aiken at claudia.aiken@nyu.edu.