Presented by:Jason Reece, Senior Researcher (Reece.35@osu.edu) The Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race & EthnicityThe Ohio State University

The Future of Fair Housing Regional Convening

Co-Sponsored by the Northwest Justice Project & the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race & Ethnicity

Supported by PRRAC and the Casey Foundation

Seattle, WAOctober 30th 2009

Background on this work

What is Opportunity Mapping? Why use data or GIS/mapping for advocacy?

How is it done? What is it used for?

Early Results Preliminary results

What’s next?

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The King County Opportunity Mapping Initiative

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Multidisciplinary applied research institute Our mission is to expand opportunity

for all, especially for our most marginalized communities

Founded in 2003 by john powell Opportunity Communities Program

(1/3 of staff)

▪ Opening pathways to opportunity for marginalized communities through investments in people, places and supporting linkages

▪ Opportunity mapping

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“Opportunity” is a situation or condition that places individuals in a position to be more likely to succeed or excel.

Opportunity structures are critical to opening pathways to success:

High-quality education

Healthy and safe environment

Stable housing

Sustainable employment

Political empowerment

Outlets for wealth-building

Positive social networks

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Five decades of research indicate that your environment has a profound impact on your access to opportunity and likelihood of success

High poverty areas with poor employment, underperforming schools, distressed housing and public health/safety risks depress life outcomes A system of disadvantage Many manifestations

▪ Urban, rural, suburban

People of color are far more likely to live in opportunity deprived neighborhoods and communities

Emphasis on how systems work to produce inequity

How do multiple issues interact to either depress or uplift certain populations or communities?

What can we do to “strategically intervene” and improve outcomes for marginalized communities

Extensive use of mapping in our work

Inequity has a geographic footprint

Leverage points sometimes geographic in scope

Maps powerful for both research and communicating research/issues to the public and other stakeholders

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The power of GIS

Overlays of data/information ▪ Depth of analysis – because of its

storage and overlay capabilities, GIS allows analysis which would be difficult or impossible without GIS technology

▪ Interaction of variables: GIS allows for extensive exploration of the interaction between various factors, primarily the focusing on correlation and relationships (spatial)

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Why is a map an excellent visual tool to inform someone about an issue/problem or solution? Maps are incredibly efficient,

compacting volumes of data into single pictures that can be understood at a glance▪ One map may contain tens of

thousands of pieces of information than can be understood in seconds

A good map can enable you to tell a story or solve a problem▪ Research has shown that

people can solve problems faster with map based information, than by looking at charts, tables or graphs

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Mapping is just another analytical & communications tool Can produce good or

bad results

How can we effectively use maps for advocacy?

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Redlining Map of Philadelphia, PA

The King County Opportunity Mapping Initiative

Leadership

▪ The Northwest Justice Project – initiated the work

Kirwan assisting as partner to conduct mapping and analysis

Supported with small grant funding provided by PRRAC and the Casey Foundation

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The use of mapping or neighborhood information for policy making/advocacy or to address poverty/equity issues is advanced

King County – national leader in using data/mapping

Other nearby activities – Portland’s equity atlas; Opportunity mapping efforts in Washington County, OR

Much better data availability here than in other states/metropolitan areas

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What is it? How do you do it? What is it used for?

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The Kirwan Institute has conducted “opportunity mapping” for states and metropolitan regions across the US Projects in at least a dozen states

Why identify the “State of Opportunity” How are low-income groups situated in the State?

How are racial and ethnic groups situated?

What can be done to improve the opportunity landscape?

How do you map opportunity? Data representing community conditions was

gathered for neighborhood (census tracts) across the state or region

▪ Data for all indicators of community conditions was aggregated to the Census Tract level and analyzed to create a comprehensive opportunity index for the census tracts (neighborhoods) throughout the state or region

The opportunity index is then mapped and census tracts are broken into quintiles based on their opportunity score

▪ Very Low, Low, Moderate, High, Very High

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Example of an Opportunity Map:

Detroit MI

(Dark Areas = Most Opportunity

Rich Communities)

(Light Areas = Most Opportunity

Deprived Areas)

Analysis and Narrative:

African American men are isolated

from neighborhoods of opportunity

in Detroit

In the past five years our opportunity mapping has been utilized in communities across the nation to promote social justice

Expanding opportunity for marginalized groups

Recent examples:▪ Public housing residents and fair housing in Baltimore,

MD

▪ Legal services neighborhoods and racial isolation in MA

▪ Austin Opportunity Initiative

Director powell’s involvement in both the liability and remedy phases of the litigation, on behalf of NAACP Legal Defense Fund and the Maryland ACLU

Used the opportunity community model to identify solutions for a fair housing for the Baltimore region▪ Potential impact on 7,000 public housing

families in the Baltimore region

Background on this project Originated from effort to

incorporated structural analysis into legal services

Partners Massachusetts Law Reform

Institute, MA Legal Assistance Corp and other Legal Services Entities

Impacts▪ National Consumer Law Center, State opportunity

assessment, Planning/Advocacy on Affordable Housing, Adopt a Zip Code

Opportunity mapping used in Austin to assess affordable housing decisions and promote regional multi-disciplinary collaboration

Next step is to explore “emerging opportunity areas” for future affordable housing investments

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EDUCATION

Student poverty rates Reading/Math test scores Adult educational attainment Teacher qualifications Graduation rate

HOUSING & NEIGHBORHOOD HEALTH

Home ownership rates Crime incidence Vacancy rates Home value appreciation Neighborhood poverty rates Population change Proximity to parks/open space Proximity to toxic waste release

sites

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Proximity to employment Commute times Job growth trends Business start trends Unemployment rate Public assistance rate

ECONOMIC HEALTH

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Education Opportunity

Score

Economic Opportunity

Score

Housing & Neighborhood

Score

Final Opportunity Score (Map)

KING COUNTY OPPORTUNITY MAPPING INDICATORS DATA MATRIX

EDUCATION DESCRIPTION

Reading Proficiency Scores 07-08 Test scores for neighborhood schools

Math Proficiency Scores 07-08 Test scores for neighborhood schools

Graduation Rates 07-08 Percentage of students graduating

Student Poverty or Economic Disadvantage 07-08 Percentage of economically disadvantaged students

Teacher Qualifications 07-08 Percentage of Highly Qualified Teachers (HQT)

Adult Educational Attainment Highest level of education attained by adults

ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY AND MOBILITY

Proximity to employment Number of jobs within 5 miles of censustract centroids

Economic climate 1 Change in number of jobs within 5 miles of censustract centroids

Economic climate 2 Business creation within 5 miles

Percentage of Population on Public Assistance Percentage of people on public assistance

Unemployment Rate Percentage of workforce unemployed

Mean Commute Time Average work commute of census tract workers

HOUSING AND NEIGHBORHOODS

Crime Rates (if available) Crime index for Part 1 offenses

Home Ownership Rate Percentage of residence ownership by census tract

Residential Vacancy Rate Percentage of vacant houses by census tract

Property appreciation Percentage change in average home price from 2002-2007

Neighborhood Poverty Rate Percentage of people below poverty for whom the poverty level has been determined by censustracts

Population change Population change since 2000

Proximity to Toxic Waste Sites and Superfund Sites Census tracts are ranked based on their distance from these facilities and the amount of toxic waste released

Proximity to park and open spaces Percentage of area in sq.mile in each census tract

Preliminary Draft Results

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Opportunity mapping allows us to look at the intersection of community conditions and a number of other factors

Demographics (Race/Ethnicity/Class)

Policy Issues

▪ Affordable Housing

▪ Subprime Lending and Foreclosure

This is only a start

▪ Other issues to examine/explore?

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Race Analysis

Neighborhood Type % African American % Asian % Latino % Whites

Low and Very Low Opp. 74.26% 55.11% 59.35% 36.29%

Moderate Opportunity 13.21% 15.17% 16.91% 21.10%

High and Very High Opp. 12.53% 29.72% 23.75% 42.61%

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

Low and Very Low Opp.

Moderate Opportunity

High and Very High Opp.

% African American % Asian

% Latino % Whites

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Subsidized Housing Analysis

Neighborhood Type # Projects # Units % Projects % Units

Low and Very Low Opp. 286 11686 51.35% 63.67%

Moderate Opportunity 137 2752 24.60% 14.99%

High and Very High Opp. 134 3917 24.06% 21.34%

Grand Total 557 18355 100.00% 100.00%

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Foreclosure Analysis

Neighborhood Type Estimated Foreclosures Estimated foreclosure Rate

Low and Very Low Opp. 65.28% 2.15%

Moderate Opportunity 19.20% 1.10%

High and Very High Opp. 15.51% 0.46%

Grand Total 100.00% 1.23%

What does our analysis find and suggest? People of color are disproportionately concentrated in

opportunity deprived communities▪ Which places them within a system of disadvantage that ultimately

impacts life outcomes

▪ Creating both an individual and societal tragedy

Does subsidized housing reinforces opportunity isolation?

Will foreclosures widen the “opportunity divide”? What are the implications of this challenge and how

can we formulate a response? Opportunity based model of social justice and community

development▪ Investments people, places and linkages

Planning for

Opportunity Communities

Opportunity Based Fair

Housing

Neighborhood Revitalization

Equitable Regional Policy

Opportunity Mapping

Next Steps

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Immediate plans

Revise maps

Prepare final analysis

Prepare report

Distribute

Long term ideas (potential possible ideas)

Look at neighborhoods compared to nation

Move away from static maps▪ Be more dynamic – e.g. where are emerging areas of opportunity?

Explore online platform?

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We need your input & feedback

Indicators & data

The maps (any anomalies?)

Overlay analysis?

▪ What else should we look at or analyze?

How could this be useful for your work?

My contact information

E-mail at: Reece.35@osu.edu

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The Advancement Projects – Healthy City Mapping System www.healthycity.org

Maryland StateStat (Recovery projects) http://mdimap.towson.edu/statestat//

Solar Boston http://gis.cityofboston.gov/SolarBoston/

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