A Small Victory for Fair Housing

How much do you know about public housing programs, who they serve and where services are provided?

If the answer is “not much,” the first step is to publicize data that will provide that information so that the government can be held accountable for the funds it invests into these services.

During the fair housing process in late 2016, the city and the federal housing authority were required to analyze demographic and geographic data about who their program serves.

Particularly in housing programs and publicly subsidized housing, Asians, and particularly Limited English Proficient (LEP) Asian households, have been underserved or in some cases, unserved.

Policies don’t change overnight. High-quality, open data is important so that groups can advocate for fairer distribution of funding and start a conversation with government about the obstacles they face to access these services.

In April, PCDC won second place in the Open Data Vote contest which asked people to vote for proposals to open specific data sets for public knowledge and use. Our proposal, to release demographic and geographic data about public housing program and housing unit beneficiaries, gathered nearly 700 votes.

Thanks to your votes, we will be working with the City and the Housing Authority to release this data in a form that can be used to advocate for fairer, more inclusive housing opportunities.