It is no secret that the United States is facing a significant housing crisis[1]. While national programs have been put forth to address housing[2], the most significant changes must take place at the local level. Zoning, building incentives and processes, housing programs, and social services all take place at the local level. While federal funding can guide what policies are implemented, the execution and direction of housing policy is squarely in the hands of counties and municipalities.
One of the most fundamental difficulties counties have is access to information about housing in their community. The ‘Housing Profile’, ‘Housing Needs Assessment’, or ‘Housing Element’ required by many states requires localities to describe the current conditions and demand for housing[3]. One piece, often called the ‘Housing Inventory’, requires municipalities to assemble data from a variety of sources, such as the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Census Bureau.
The tool (which you can access here) I have developed aims to help communities easily access their housing profile, with the information policy makers need to evaluate housing conditions and need in their community. In this post, I will lay out the current dashboard, how it can be used, and future improvements I intend to make. I have grouped information into three general sections: Housing Inventory, Housing Affordability, and Housing Demand. In the sections, I will explain what is in each section, and how it might be used to develop a housing inventory as part of a housing needs assessment.
The Housing Inventory Tab
The Housing Inventory tab quantifies current housing within the county. The first table starts with the number of housing units, the number of vacant units, and the vacancy rates for both renters and homeowners. This is a quick way to understand if the county is a ‘tight’ or ‘loose’ market. Higher vacancy rates indicate that there is a lack of demand for housing, or that there are a number of substandard or undesirable units.
The other graphs on this chart help add context. The breakout of the type of units allows planners to understand the diversity of housing stock. Is the community mostly single-family housing? If so, planners might want to consider encouraging housing diversity. Furthermore, if there is a lot of housing that has not been built in the past twenty years, it could mean a high vacancy rate is the result of poorly maintained properties. The number of bedrooms can also point to difficulties. If it is lined up with the household size chart on the Housing Demand tab, a planner can see if the size of housing units matches the current households in the community. For example, it is unlikely that 1 person household would want or could afford more than 1 bedroom units, and vice versa, large household (more than 5 people) would be forced to overcrowd if there are not enough 4 bedroom units. While planners cannot directly produce housing units, they can use this understanding to promote the production or preservation of housing types that are currently under produced relative to demand.
The final table provides a summary of current HUD subsidized housing in the county. This includes a variety of programs. I lay out the major programs in the table below. For more information, I recommend you visit the HUD website, which provides detailed information on the programs the federal governments administers to promote housing production and preservation[4].
Table 1: Federal Program Descriptions
| Program Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Public Housing | These are units owned and operated by the local housing authority and assisted through HUD funding. |
| Housing Choice Vouchers | These are household vouchers that provide a subsidy on rent. The program is administered locally and funded by HUD. The subsidy amount is based on Household Income and local market rents. |
| Project Based Section 8 | These are vouchers which are attached to a specific property. The property owners sign a contract with HUD. Residents in the building pay a percentage of their income (usually 30%) and HUD pays difference between that and the agreed upon rent |
| Section 202/PRAC | This is a similar program to Section 8 however, this program is limited to the elderly (those over the age of 55) |
| Section 811/PRAC | Also Similar to Section 8, this program is designed for individuals with disabilities |
| Section 515/PRAC | These subsidies are for low-income housing projects in rural areas. The program is administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) |
| LIHTC | Known as the Low-Income Tax Credit. This subsidy provides tax credits to investors in housing for low-income residents. This program is administered by the states with the tax credits being allocated by the IRS. |
The Housing Affordability Tab
The Housing Affordability tab seeks to describe how affordable housing is in the selected area. To do this, the first table simply describes the median income, home value, rent, and owner costs. While more granularity is needs, this is a good way to understand the overall affordability level in your area.
The next table provides the percentage of households either received government assistance or retirement income. This is a way to quickly understand how vulnerable the current population is to large changes in home and rental prices. Seniors on fixed incomes could find themselves in trouble if they are renters or if their property taxes rise steeply. Conversely, households receiving assistance that are not with vouchers (as only a small minority of qualified households actually receive vouchers CITE), can be extremely vulnerable to housing instability as prices rise.
The final two graphs aim to show gaps within the current housing market by providing a gap analysis. This is done by taking the number of households affordable at a given income level (done as a percentage of the average median income) and subtracting it by the number of households that fall into that income range. For the gap analysis provide the unadjusted deficit/surplus number. This means that the number is not adjusted for the number of households who make above the income range but reside in cheaper units. This is done to try and capture only housing supplier behavior. For example, if there is a major gap in rental prices at the 30% AMI range but a large surplus in the 50% – 80% AMI; it could be that there is some barrier to housing suppliers lowering their rents. This allows planners to investigate and implement policies to help with filtering CITE.
The Housing Demand Tab
The final tab covers the demand for housing. This information primarily covers demographic elements such as population change, race, age, gender, and household size. This can be useful in determining some of the basic services and programs to offer. For example, a large senior population might require an aging in place program to help fund improvements to their home to make it wheelchair accessible. Additionally, a significant population change could mean that a planning department should focus on decreasing the time it takes for a building permit to be approved or begin to plan for a shrinking population.
Of special note is the final table in this tab, which covers special populations. These highlighted groups are often disadvantaged in finding housing; either through discrimination, a lack of suitable housing, or specific needs which are often underfunded. Planners should use their housing element to not only highlight and center these groups’ needs, but also include concrete steps to address them. There has been a great deal of scholarship on how planners can function as advocates in their professional role, and that includes using data as a way to ensure these groups are made visible.
Current Version and Future Updates:
This is Version 1.2 of the housing profile dashboard, which includes updates on affordability and housing tenure. There are a number of changes that I would like to add in. I view this as a continual work in progress, and while I will continue to work on other projects, I intend to come back to add and improve it. Planning is an evolutionary discipline and our tools must evolve to meet the changing requirements of our profession:
Version 1.2 Updates:
- Breakdowns of income, rent, and homeowner costs
- Provide the percent of homeowners and renters in the community
Future Version 1 Updates:
- Provide information on when subsidized housing units under contract are expected to expire
- Show rent and homeowner burdened households
Future Updates:
- Allow users to compare counties to the state average and similar counties across the US
- Provide information on building permits issued using SCODS data from HUD
- Provide information on land use, including building intensity
- Allow users to download data as a csv file to develop their own visuals and analysis
I always am open to feedback and would be happy to have any help from fellow planners and data analysts who are interested in housing. Please feel free to reach out to me over Email, LinkedIn, or Twitter if you have any comments, suggestions, or would like to help make this project the best it can be! I also am happy to provide the source code and dataset if you are interested in perusing it yourself.
Cheers!
[1] Brenda Richardson, “America’s Housing Affordability Crisis Only Getting Worse,” Forbes, January 31, 2019, https://www.forbes.com/sites/brendarichardson/2019/01/31/americas-housing-affordability-crisis-only-getting-worse/#10b7370d104b; Patrick Sisson, “The U.S. Has an Affordable Housing Crisis. Here’s Why,” Curbed, May 15, 2019, https://www.curbed.com/2019/5/15/18617763/affordable-housing-policy-rent-real-estate-apartment; Annie Lowrey, “The Great Affordability Crisis Breaking America,” The Atlantic, February 7, 2020, https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/02/great-affordability-crisis-breaking-america/606046/.
[2] Jeff Andrews, “Where Democratic Presidential Candidates Stand on Housing,” Curbed, June 19, 2019, https://www.curbed.com/2019/6/19/18644798/democratic-primary-housing-policy-2020-president.
[3] California Department of Housing & Community Development, “HCD Regional Housing Needs Allocation and Housing Elements,” State of California, 2020, https://www.hcd.ca.gov/community-development/housing-element/index.shtml; Local Government Division, Growth Management Services, “Guidance for Developing a Housing Needs Assessment: Public Review Draft” (Washington State Department of Commerce, March 2020), https://deptofcommerce.app.box.com/s/mop7xrkzh170th1w51ezbag3pmne9adz.
[4] Links to detailed descriptions on most Federal Housing Programs:
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, “Housing Choice Vouchers Fact Sheet,” 2020, https://www.hud.gov/program_offices/public_indian_housing/programs/hcv/about/fact_sheet; U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, “Program Descriptions,” 2020, https://www.hud.gov/program_offices/housing/mfh/progdesc; U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, “Rural-Rental-Housing-Loans-Section-515Summary.Pdf,” 2002, https://files.hudexchange.info/resources/documents/Rural-Rental-Housing-Loans-Section-515Summary.pdf; Housing Link, “Project Based Section 8,” Housing Link, 202AD, https://www.housinglink.org/SubsidizedHousing/ProjectBased.