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.
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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.
View the webinar and access resources
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.
View the webinar and access resources
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.
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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.
View the webinar and access resources
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.
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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.
Data Talks 6 — Generating People-Powered Fair Housing Data
This December 2024 episode is a collaboration with Unlock NYC, showcasing an innovative approach to crowdsourcing data about landlord discrimination against housing voucher holders. Our guests Manon Vergerio, Head of Data and Advocacy, and Ashley Eberhart, Head of Product for Unlock NYC discuss how they collect and harness these data to inform policy and their recent pilot project in Buffalo, NY. You can view the slides presented in the webinar here.
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Recommended Reading:
- Source of Income Laws – Read the Lab’s policy brief about enacting and enforcing ordinances to protect renters and homebuyers against discrimination based on their sources of income, including vouchers.
- A Furman Center study, summarized here, analyzed the effectiveness of source of income discrimination laws enacted in 31 jurisdictions between 2007 and 2017.
- Unlock NYC maps and reports – Explore how Unlock NYC harnesses its crowdsourced data to reveal common denial tactics, serial discriminators, and incidences of discrimination by neighborhood in New York City.
Data Talks 7 — Equitable Storytelling with Data
Our March 2025 episode focused on how to present local data in accessible and engaging ways to encourage community involvement in housing policy and development decisions. Patrick Spauster, Data Fellow at the NYU Furman Center, gave an introduction to data storytelling. Our guests Allison De Marco, Advanced Research Scientist at the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute, UNC; and Donna Carrington, Executive Director of the Community Empowerment Fund, shared their experience leading Data Walks in Chapel Hill and Durham and findings from their study on housing and homelessness. You can view the slides presented in the webinar here.
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Recommended Reading:
- Engaging the Community in a Local Housing Strategy – Explore the Lab’s resources to help housing leaders and practitioners improve their engagement strategies.
- Data Visualization – Read our case study series about transforming local housing data into engaging visual narratives.
Data Talks 8 — Understanding Short-Term Rentals
Our May 2025 episode focused on how cities can use federal and local data to measure the scale and impact of short-term rentals on their rental stock. Our webinar featured presenter Nora Carrier, Predoctoral Research Fellow at the NYU Furman Center’s Housing Solutions Lab, and a fireside chat with guests Maxwell Ciardullo, Director of Research at The Redress Movement, and Zachary Lenhert, Licensing and Housing Safety Manager for the City of Portland, Maine. They covered what has worked in their localities in terms of policy implementation and enforcement, as well as what others can learn from their experiences. You can view the slides presented in the webinar here.
View the webinar and access resources
Recommended Reading:
- Regulating short-term rentals – Read the Lab’s brief on different approaches to regulating short-term rentals, including policies that use the revenue raised from short-term rentals to invest in affordable housing.
- Rental registries – Read the Lab’s brief on rental registries, which covers their benefits as well as variations in design and scope across the U.S.
- Addressing the housing crunch in seasonal destinations – Read the Lab’s brief on how seasonal tourist destinations can build and preserve housing for locals, seasonal workers, and visitors alike.
- Balancing tourism and housing – Learn more about the unique challenges and creative solutions in tourist communities through four case studies.
If you have questions about Data Talks, contact Director of New Research Partnerships Claudia Aiken at claudia.aiken@nyu.edu.