Leverage federal programs to improve local housing permit data

Many recent regulatory reforms are aimed at encouraging new housing development, but timely data on the location and quantity of new housing is limited. The most comprehensive data source on new development, the U.S. Census Bureau’s Building Permit Survey (BPS), relies on outdated methodologies that can introduce a variety of errors and biases. Individual jurisdictions are required to submit periodic reports on the building permits they issue. In addition to the potential for human error, many jurisdictions do not require monthly reporting, and some jurisdictions that do require monthly reporting do not do so. As a result, BPS is fairly reliable at high levels of geographic aggregation (e.g., county, state, metropolitan area), but less reliable at the municipal level. Additionally, BPS does not provide information about lower levels of geography (such as census tracts or block groups). This is a problem because many recent land-use regulatory reforms aim to encourage development in specific areas, such as areas with good transportation or resources. A lack of accurate, timely, and geographically accurate permitting data makes it difficult to assess whether these regulations are working.

The Census Bureau should work with information technology (IT) vendors, states, and local governments to facilitate automation of local building permit reporting. All large jurisdictions (and many smaller ones) use some form of computerized tracking system for building permits. In some cases, tracking systems include specialized software, usually developed by private vendors. Sometimes it’s just a spreadsheet. A unified software tool for entering building permit data would make the BPS even more reliable and facilitate more detailed geographic analysis of new housing developments. Data from this tool can be sent directly to the Census Bureau, reducing the potential for errors in local aggregation and tabulation of data. More granular geographic data will help the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) assess whether local efforts to aggressively promote fair housing are bearing fruit. It will also help states that have recently introduced regulatory reforms related to fair housing and transit-oriented development assess the impact of those reforms. Additionally, automated data collection and transmission will reduce the administrative burden on local governments.

The Census Bureau should first consider using the same spending sources that fund Modernizing Construction Indicators (MCI) projects. This funding could be sufficient to launch a pilot project that convenes a working group of local and state officials, software vendors, and researchers to identify the key attributes needed for this new reporting system. There is a gender. Meanwhile, the MCI project is currently focused on improving his BPS using data from vendors that collect building permit data. from Government, proposed project includes collaboration with vendors providing information technology services to government. Rather than relying on a patchwork of private vendors with different data standards and licensing rules that collect and repackage data from local governments, the Census Bureau and other agencies can use the vendors that provide the data. Must contribute to the development of IT solutions.service to Local government. These IT solutions may be incorporated into the Department’s own standardized data collection processes.

The pilot program will include the creation and deployment of software that records the same permits currently covered by the forms used for BPS. The data collected must include the geographic coordinates of each newly permitted structure and the number of units each structure contains. Local authorities that voluntarily participate will receive funding to implement the new system either from the same spending source that funds the MCI project or from another council’s expenditure. The Census Bureau plans to revise the system under a pilot program for broader deployment, which would require additional funding from Congress.

Federal agencies (such as HUD), state governments, and nongovernmental organizations may be able to use the data to better assess the effectiveness of land use regulatory reforms. Both government agencies and advocacy groups are operating largely blind when it comes to reform efforts due to a lack of data. For example, to assess whether reforms targeted at transit-rich or resource-rich locations are bringing development to those locations, advocates and policy makers may need to consider how much You need to know what development is happening.

In addition to providing tangible benefits for assessing regulatory reform, timely, reliable, and spatially accurate data on new housing developments also have broader social and economic benefits. For example, such data facilitates the development of economic indicators by the Conference Board and the Federal Reserve Board. It helps financial institutions estimate mortgage demand. We contribute to various types of research by private companies.

This idea of ​​merit came from our thoughts. Home idea challenge, Learning Collider, National Zoning Atlas, and Cornell University’s Legal Constructs Lab. Find more ideas to address the housing shortage here.