It used to be that the U.S.
Department of Housing and Urban Development would require more than
1,200 cities, counties and states to undergo a paper-based,
time-intensive and costly planning process as a condition of receiving
billions of dollars in federal funding. No more. Today, HUD is launching
the eCon Planning Suite, a set of 21st Century data and technology tools
to help communities ensure that scarce federal dollars are targeted to
where they are needed most and can achieve the biggest impact.
It is estimated HUD’s new approach will save communities at least 65,000
staff hours each year and support communities in need-driven,
place-based decision-making that will engage informed public
participation and improve community and economic development outcomes.
HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan said, “We know that in a time of huge budget
cuts at the state and local level, it’s harder and harder to have the
resources to bring that information together. This technology that we’re
providing is going to be really revolutionary in helping all of our
grantees work smarter.”
“For the first time, we have the technology and data available to help
communities approach their planning in targeted, data-driven,
place-based way,” said Mercedes Márquez, HUD’s Assistant Secretary of
Community Planning and Development. “This is a giant leap forward by
providing grantees and the public alike with the tools they need to
visualize where federal taxpayer dollars are going and where investment
can make a difference.”
HUD’s new planning tools will support place-based decision-making and
promote public participation and transparency in the discussion over
where federal investments ought to be made. The eCon Planning Suite is
comprised of three components: an expanded planning database; a powerful
new mapping tool, CPD Maps; and an electronic template for submitting
the Consolidated Plan.
CPD Maps will allow cities, counties and states to access expanded
planning data that will not only help them visualize where they have
made federal investments in the past, but will guide them on where to
focus their energies in the future down to the Census tract level. In
addition, the public will be able to draw on this powerful new mapping
tool to argue for public investments in particular neighborhoods.
For the first time ever, HUD is offering the following data through this
user-friendly tool, not only to its grantee community but to the public
at large:
Comprehensive Housing Affordability Strategy (CHAS) from the U.S. Census
Bureau which describes housing problems and needs of extremely low-,
low-, and moderate-income households;
American Community Survey (2005-09) offers Census data on population
demographics, description of housing stock (cost, condition) and
workforce characteristics, such as earnings by sector and travel time to
work;
Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics (LEHD) from Census describes
changes in jobs and labor force over time;
Public and Indian Housing Information Center (PIC) from HUD provides
information about the characteristics of public housing residents;
Continuum of Care Point-in-Time homeless counts from 3,000 cities and
counties offer data on the nature and extent of homelessness; and
Location data from HUD, U.S. Department of Transportation, and the
Federal Emergency Management Agency which displays the
location/concentration of CDBG, HOME, HUD Multi-family housing
developments, public housing, Section 8 vouchers, DOT data on fixed rail
transit stops and FEMA floodplains.
The online Consolidated Plan template is designed to guide grantees
through an intuitive planning process driven by the same data the public
can access in CPD Maps . Completed plans will be posted on HUD’s website
in a standard format to allow grantees and the public to compare plans
and identify best practices. This collection will form a national
library of Consolidated Plans, creating a single place online to read
about other local strategies and best practices.
Márquez added, “By being able to search every plan in the country, we’re
creating a library of ideas. This is democracy in data. I’ve been to my
fair share of public hearings in the past but never before will people
be as empowered with the evidence they need to inform public policy.”
In
the past, state and local governments approached the Consolidated Plans
more as a compliance and budget exercise than a strategic planning
process based on an analysis of market conditions. Many grantees use
limited administrative resources to hire expensive consultants to
prepare their plans without sufficiently detailed and timely data. As a
result, grantees use these plans to focus on annual funding decisions
rather than on strategic goals based on needs.
By contrast, HUD’s new user-friendly planning template will allow
communities to instantly import information about needs and market data
from CPD Maps into plans that they will electronically submit to HUD for
review. Together, these two web-based tools will significantly reduce
grantee’s paperwork burden, save time and money, and create a strategic
roadmap to target federal funds where they can do the most good.
HUD piloted the eCon Planning Suite in Detroit, MI; New Orleans, LA; San
Antonio, TX; City and County of Sacramento, CA; and the Commonwealth of
Massachusetts. Grantees submitting Consolidated Plans on or after
November 15, 2012, will be required to use the new template
