HOUSING INDICATOR TOOL

A DASHBOARD FOR MEASURING PROGRESS TOWARDS MEETING REGIONAL HOUSING NEEDS

“Racism, racist policies, racist systems, and racist outcomes will
persist until it is in our economic, political, and cultural interests to choose otherwise.”

Ibram X. Kendi, Author, How to Be an Antiracist
The above quote was shared with our members during HAND’s Racial Equity Learning Series (March 2020).

Can we afford to do more of the same? If nothing changed, would we be solving for the needs in our communities? We asked ourselves these questions when we launched the Housing Indicator Tool (HIT), a platform designed to track local efforts to produce affordable rental housing in the Washington Region. Three years after its inaugural release in March 2021, we are pleased to share an updated version of the tool with HAND members, local jurisdictions, private sector and philanthropic partners. 

Dating as far back as slavery, we have operated under a system that was rooted in an ideology that black, indigenous, and people of color were inferior to other races. Over hundreds of years, this structure has permeated our very way of life – from our education system to where we worship and even housing. Redlining, racialized zoning and covenants, subprime mortgages, and disinvestment in black and brown communities are just a few of the ways in which this system has created barriers to opportunity over the course of decades. No matter how overt or subtle, this discrimination has always been designed to secure the dominance of some, and extract social and economic value from others. 

This pattern of systemic racism coupled with the ongoing housing affordability challenge in the Capital Region will require an all-hands-on-deck strategy for the path forward. Grounded in racial equity, we invite users to leverage the HIT to address racial and economic inequities through the vehicle of housing. This one-of-a-kind platform holds all of us accountable with the latest information on housing production and preservation, and a comparison with established local housing targets. Further, it provides an update on what policies each jurisdiction is pursuing to achieve greater housing opportunity.

Users of the latest tool can expect: an updated design; new interactive features that put a human face to the housing affordability challenge; new indicators on housing production and preservation outcomes; additional policies the HIT is tracking; and data that speaks to a number of key issues including: rental production for units with income or rent restrictions, production of Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) units to support our most vulnerable populations, funding needs for maintenance and rehabilitation of public housing units, and local efforts to achieving racial equity through housing.

HIT IN THE NEWS

Check out the latest media coverage of the HIT and key updates from our jurisdictions on achieving our housing goals!