Updated: HUD New Comp Plan Tool Resources; Maps Include Census Tract Level Voucher Counts and Share of Housing Units.

Update: 
Link to PDF of HUD slide show/webinar [w/o audio] from Monday is HERE. 
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Related to today's HUD webinar on their new consolidated planning tools, you will find several related resources on the HUD consolidated planning website HERE. (I would bookmark this site as it will be no doubt updated in the future).

One of resources is new CPD Notice HERE that describes timetable for using new planning tool.

The webinar from today is not yet posted but should appear shortly at the bottom of the page; look for "Introductory Webinar". 

CT Level Voucher Maps
I have started to look at content from mapping site and was surprised to see census tract level voucher data, although it appears it may be from HUD 2009 Picture of Subsidized Housing. Some CT level voucher counts are not shown as they are below the threshold of vouchers reported for privacy purposes and it is not clear whether total housing units used to calculate concentrations in the current voucher maps are from 2000 or 2010 Census data.

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

Oregon Census Tract Map: The Rate of 2008 HUD Housing Vouchers Per 100 Occupied Rental Housing Units in 2000.

I have created a new map (Google Fusion table link is HERE ; map legend and embedded map are below) that shows the rate of HUD housing vouchers in 2008 per 100 occupied rental units in 2000 for all Oregon Census Tracts.  

I believe this is the first time any web map/table with HUD voucher data for all of Oregon census tracts has ever been publicly posted. As with many other projects posted on the blog this map is intended to demonstrate what is possible --I encourage others to build on what I have posted.

Notes: 

1. Statewide in 2008 there were 6.5 HUD housing vouchers for every 100 rental housing units that were occupied in 2000. (31,215 vouchers/476,772 occupied rental housing units).
2. The census tract with the highest concentration of vouchers is 41051008901 in SE Portland. It had 113 vouchers in 2008 and as of 2000 there were 349 occupied rental housing units; using this data the rate of vouchers per 100 renter occupied housing units was 32.4. (See Important Caveats section below).
3. At the bottom of this post I explain the methodology used to create the map. 
4. A Google account is likely required to view/work with the Google Fusion files. 
5. When in the map if you click a census tract you will see the CT name and city, if any, and the 2008 count of vouchers; the 2000 Census count of rental occupied and home owner occupied units; and the rate of housing vouchers per 100 occupied rental units.

IMPORTANT CAVEATS:  

1. Voucher data is as of 2008, while counts of rental units are from 2000 Census. As the number of occupied rental units in Oregon increased by 20.5% (97,685 units) from the 2000 to 2010 Census, the rate of voucher units per 100 occupied rental units in 2008 is overstated statewide and in a variable way at the census tract level. Using the Census 2010 count of 574,453 occupied rental units the statewide rate of 2008 vouchers per 100 occupied rental units would fall from 6.5 to 5.4 per 100 occupied rental units. 
2. Because the addition of just one rental housing project between 2000 and 2010 could significantly change the voucher rate per 100 occupied rental housing units at the census tract level, extreme caution should be used in drawing final conclusions about the rate of voucher use at the census tract level. For census tracts with apparent high rates of voucher usage I would check other resources like ACS to see if the count of occupied rental housing units has changed significantly from 2000. (For example, for the CT with the highest apparent rate of usage [41051008901] ACS 2005-2009 data HERE shows an estimate of 708 occupied rental housing units; this is 74% more occupied rental units than the 349 counted in the 2000 Census. This higher count of occupied rental housing units would DECREASE the rate of vouchers per 100 renter occupied units from 32.4 to 18.6).
3. In a subsequent post I will include a link to a table showing what the voucher rate per 100 rental units was by county using actual occupied rental housing counts from the 2010 Census.
4. My hope is that the next set of HUD Picture of Subsidized Housing data will count voucher units using 2010 census tract boundaries so that the higher count of Census 2010 occupied rental housing units in each census tract can be used in a revised set of CT level maps.
5. The map and table do NOT include project based HUD rental units. Voucher counts only include counts where census tracts are identified; it is possible that other HUD databases may include counts of voucher units without identified census tracts.

Methodology

I recently downloaded a national HUD file HERE with 2008 housing voucher counts and related data down to the census tract level. Using that data and others I then created and uploaded a CSV file to Google Fusion that included

1. Census 2000 counts of occupied housing units by tenure.
2. The count of HUD vouchers in each census tract as of 2008.
3. A calculated ratio of HUD housing vouchers per 100 occupied rental housing units. 

Using free Shpescape.com and Google Fusion "cloud" software tools I then uploaded a SHAPEFILE of 2000 Oregon census tracts boundaries and merged that data with the housing voucher/housing unit count file that I had previously uploaded. From the merged table I then used the visualize tools in Google Fusion to create the map embedded in this post.

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

New Blog Page Tab Includes Map Tools and Links.

I have created a new "Maps, Tools, and Links" page on the blog that you can access through the tab below the picture at the top of the Blog home page, OR through a direct link HERE.

To date I have added links to 6 Oregon and US boundary files (SHAPEFILES) I have uploaded and 2 links to topical maps I have created, along with links to related blog posts.

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

Test Embed of Small Area FMR Map

This is a test embed of the map from my previous post

Recovery Act Mapping--Not Much That Impresses.

Frankly, I haven't seen any Recovery Act mapping sites that have really wowed me.

The new O'Reilly Radar article HERE includes some links to lots of different Recovery Act mapping sites, maybe there is a site within that could serve as a benchmark; if you see one don't hesitate to call it out in a comment on this post.

HUD's joint effort with USDA HERE leaves a lot to be desired--while project level Section 8 Recovery Act dollars are included, you can't readily download any of the underlying data.

Oregon's Recovery Act mapping HERE also does not include any data download option, housing data is completely missing, data is only available at the county level, and you have to do a lot of drilling down find actual data for specific programs.

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

NY Times Gets Busy on NY Metro Foreclosure Coverage.

When I run across a real success in making complex data accessible at the human level, I'm prompted to say, "That's what I'm talkin' about"!

NY Times has nailed it with a new series with stories, pictures, an interactive map and a slide show; only wish is that map was NOT limited to NY metro area.

One of many stories HERE using the data says that minorities affected the most; look at left pane for related stories on subareas within NY metro. Other resources:

• Interactive map, down to street level, is HERE.
• American Dream Threatened slide show is HERE.
• Faces of Foreclosure is HERE.

Kudos to NY Times for great coverage.

New Maps/Data of Non Prime Mortgages By State, County, Zip Code.

Got this source tip from long time Portland HUD Office appraiser and single family staffer Mike Umbras, who got it from one of his appraiser buddies. Thanks, Mike!

MAPS
From NY Federal Reserve, HERE new series of maps of non prime mortgage activity allows selection by state, county and zip code levels and selection of variables to compare. Can select sub prime or Alt A loans for comparison. Maps, all the way to zip code level, show relative rates for different variables using color coding.

DATA
For data, a mouse click on state geography calls up the actual data for the state (when viewing maps only state level geographic data appears to be available). HOWEVER good bews us that state and county level data IS available for download in MS Excel from separate data web page HERE. Look for "US Data" on this web page. There are separate sub prime or Alt-A downloads available, with more than 70 data fields per county available. Not sure how frequently data will be updated, could be quarterly?

Example of Data from state map: In Oregon 67% of sub prime loans were Adjustable rate loans; 41% of sub prime adjustable rate loans were scheduled to reset in 12 months (from Dec. 2007-Dec 2008). [Similar data available to county level from MS Excel download].