Mapping Tools Transform Community Planning for HUD Funds

Mapping Tools Transform Community Planning for HUD Funds

Erika Poethig, Acting Assistant Secretary for Policy Development and Research For almost my entire career, I have sought ways to make publicly available data as transparent and easy to access as possible. Too often, important information that could benefit the public and inform local decision-making remains underutilized, hidden behind Byzantine layers of obstacles. Sometimes it is for good reasons like privacy concerns, but more often than not it is for much more mundane and solvable issues. What frequently ends up happening is that communities waste precious resources paying for public data because they have no idea how to access it or public “owners” of the data haven’t created platforms for community access. In my previous role at the MacArthur Foundation I supported many different projects such as the Subsidized Housing Information Project (SHIP) in New York City and the Florida Housing Data Clearinghouse that created open platforms for sharing public data about publicly assisted housing and equipping the public with the proper tools to do their own analysis. One of the important tools that the Office of Policy Development and Research created years ago under Bob Gray’s leadership is the Picture of Subsidized Households, which provides summary level information about all the tenants that live in housing subsidized by HUD. I’m pleased to continue to support similar efforts from within the federal government as we transform the way HUD does business and reposition this agency as a dynamic partner with our program participants and the American public. I’d like to highlight one recent development indicative of the direction we’re heading.

In May, my colleagues in the Office of Community Planning and Development (CPD) launched the Con Planning Suite, an innovative platform that will improve data access and cost efficiencies for communities completing their Consolidated Plans (Con Plan). As a quick primer, the Consolidated Plan regulation debuted in 1995 to facilitate streamlined planning requirements for Community Development Block Grant (CDBG), HOME Investment Partnerships Program (HOME), Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS (HOPWA), and Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG). However, this process required the more than 1,200 cities, counties and states completing a Con Plan to undergo a paper-based, time-intensive, and costly planning process as a condition of receiving billions of dollars in federal block grant funding.

The new eCon Planning Suite provides a set of data and mapping tools to help communities target scarce federal dollars to where they are needed most and can achieve the biggest impact. CPD has estimated that this new approach will save state and local communities at least 65,000 staff hours each year and thousands of dollars in consultant fees. And it will also empower the public. The mapping tool is available online with no special access requirements, so the public can participate in the planning process using use the same data and mapping technology as grantees. HUD has developed a standard reporting format that the public can access. HUD will provide grantees with templates pre-populated with available data, saving grantees time on data collection and shifting the focus to understanding community and market conditions. The template enables the setting of one set of priorities and strategic goals, which will facilitate collaboration across agencies that administer Consolidated Plan funds. As Consolidated Plans are entered into the system, HUD will be able to aggregate goals across grantees and better understand grantee success as well as where help is needed. Grantees and the public will be able to search this database of plans to learn and share model practices.

The eCon Planning Suite’s platform of data and mapping tools is just one example of how we’re striving to change the way HUD does business. Another example and one that tops my list of change efforts is PD&R’s five-year Research Roadmap. Through it, I look forward to pursuing additional opportunities for HUD to partner with the public and improve data transparency.