The Importance of Using Layered Data to Analyze Housing: The Case of the Subsidized Housing Information Project

The Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy recently developed a new database through its Subsidized Housing Information Project (SHIP) that combines more than 50 disparate data sets to catalogue every privately-owned, publicly subsidized affordable rental property developed in New York City with financing and insurance from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), HUD project-based rental assistance, New York City or State Mitchell-Lama financing, or the federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Program. This datashop article shows how databases like SHIP can aid in efforts to preserve and manage subsidized properties by providing a clear understanding of the number of units subsidized, an improved capability for assessing challenges to the existing subsidized housing stock, and a sharper view of the potential for properties to leave subsidy programs.