January, 2010

NEPA News / Planning Data — No Comments
28
Jan 10

Real Estate Data in Environmental Impact Statements

An Unscientific Survey of Real Estate Data in 14 EISs published in January 2010

I read 14 EISs from the NEPA Library to see what real estate data was being included in these documents. Below are the results of my unscientific survey.RealEstateDataGraph

The chart above indicates that:

  • 5 EISs had homeownership rates (i.e. 70% homeowners, 30% renters);
  • 5 EISs had median home value/price data (i.e. $200,0000 per home);
  • 4 EISs had total number of residences in the project area (i.e. 150 homes);
  • 4 EISs had vacancy rate data (i.e. 12% of homes were vacant);
  • 4 EISs had average household size data (i.e. 3.1 people per household); and
  • 3 EISs had new building permits counts (i.e. 100 permits in 2008).

Real Estate Data Sources

The majority of the documents used city and county level data. The US Census 2000 was the most often referenced data source by far.
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So What Now?

I’ve been trying to decide what current real estate data to include in Cubit’s Housing and Regional Economic report.  Based on my survey, I’m going to add homeownership rates, median home value/price, total number of residences, vacancy rates and average household size data to the Housing and Regional Economic report.

I’m going to use 2006-2008 American Community Survey data, because 1. it’s more up to date than 2000 Census data and 2. it’s available for large counties/cities (which are the project areas that were most likely to be used in the 14 surveyed documents). I’ll also consider adding permit counts from US Census Bureau’s Building Permits data.

Small Area Median Home Values

Small area home data is often difficult to find.

Small area home data is often difficult to find.

But I am disappointed that more of the documents didn’t include small area real estate data, like for zip codes or Census tracts.  When I was writing NEPA documents, I needed small area data. Sure, county level data was helpful.  But if a project was going to displace a home, I needed real estate data about that specific neighborhood or zip code to determine relocation opportunities. So I’m debating adding median home values for small area geographies like Census tracts to the Housing and Regional Economic report.
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Would median home value data for geographies smaller than cities or counties be helpful?  Or is city/county level data sufficient for your analysis? Or maybe you’d like a blog post on good data sources for small area real estate data? Let me know what you think in the comments below, or contact me.

Planning Data — No Comments
26
Jan 10

Cool Map of Areas Difficult for the Census 2010 to Count

Check out the Census 2010 Hard-To-Count Interactive Map (http://www.censushardtocountmaps.org/).  It pinpoints census tracts that the U.S. Census Bureau considers difficult to count. It also displays the detailed demographic and housing characteristics that the Census Bureau believes will create challenges to achieving an accurate count in certain communities.

Hard To Count Census Tracts in San Antonio, Texas

Hard To Count Census Tracts in San Antonio, Texas

The mapping tool is based on the Census Bureau’s Tract Level Planning Database (http://2010.census.gov/partners/research/), which identified twelve population and housing characteristics associated with low mail response in the 2000 census.  There are six “person” characteristics:
•       language isolation;
•       unemployment;
•       mobility;
•       below poverty level;
•       receiving public assistance; and
•       no high school diploma …

… and six housing characteristics:
•       crowded housing;
•       multi-unit buildings;
•       lack of telephone in home;
•       vacancy rate;
•       renter occupied; and
•       complex households …

…to calculate “hard-to-count” scores, ranging from 0 – 132 for every census tract in the country.  The new mapping site uses a threshold score of 61 or higher to identify hard-to-count census tracts.  The cutoff score of 61+ identifies roughly the top 20% of all tracts nationwide that are the hardest-to-count. In addition to showing these characteristics within hard-to-count census tracts, the database shows tracts with low 2000 census mail return rates and high foreclosure risk.

“This web site will help groups promoting 2010 census participation across the nation get the biggest bang for their buck by focusing precisely on the communities that will be hardest to count,” said Steven Romalewski, director of the CUNY Mapping Service.  ”The tool will also help these advocates communicate effectively with people in hard-to-count areas because the maps reveal why each location will likely face enumeration challenges.”  Mr. Romalewski pointed to language barriers, large numbers of renters, high poverty rates, and a prevalence of non-traditional households as some of the characteristics – alone or in combination – that the Census Bureau’s research indicates will contribute to a difficult environment for the census.  ”The website provides visual evidence of those challenges with powerful maps and interactive data,” he noted.
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I found out about this awesome resource in the Census News Briefs, which is prepared by Terri Ann Lowenthal.  You can check out previous Census News Briefs at www.thecensusproject.org

Planning Data — 7 Comments
20
Jan 10

2010 Poverty Guidelines will not be revised until at least March 1, 2010

US-DeptOfHHS-Seal.svg

August 2nd Revision: The 2010 Poverty Guidelines will be published in the Federal Register on August 3, 2010. Finally! Click here to see the Poverty Guidelines for the Remainder of 2010.

According to the Department of Health and Human Services website, the 2009 Poverty Guidelines will remain in effect until at least March 1, 2010. This data has recently been revised to May 31, 2010.

The reason for the freeze is that for the first time since the poverty guidelines were issued in 1965, the annual average Consumer Price Index has decreased from the previous year.  If the 2009 guidelines weren’t frozen, the HHS would have had to issue 2010 poverty guidelines that were lower than the 2009 poverty guidelines.

You can learn more here: http://aspe.hhs.gov/POVERTY/09extension.shtml

Free Poverty Statistics for Your Area in Seconds – Learn More

Poverty Statistics Report Image

Planning Data — No Comments
19
Jan 10

Fresh EISs? Where to Find Current Example EISs

Col. Andrew Backus signs a ROD to complete the Chesapeake Bay oyster restoration Programmatic EIS (Aug. 13, 2009)

Col. Andrew Backus signs a ROD to complete the Chesapeake Bay oyster restoration Programmatic EIS (Aug. 13, 2009)

Have you ever wanted to see how the most recent published/approved NEPA documents are addressing new issues like climate change?  Or perhaps you’ve been looking for example indirect and cumulative impacts analyses in FEISs?

You should bookmark this webpage: http://www.cubitplanning.com/library/environmental-impact-statement It’s got links to the most recently published/approved DEISs, FEISs, and Supplemental EISs as listed by the EPA’s EIS database.  The documents are ordered by publication date.

Has one of your NEPA documents been published or approved recently?  Email me a link to the document or a pdf, and I’ll add it to the NEPA Library.

Did you find the Recent EIS page helpful?  Or was it still a pain to get the information that you needed?  Let me know what you think in the comments below.

Cubit News / Planning Data — No Comments
19
Jan 10

Free Age & Disability Data until January 31, 2010

Disability data now available.

I’ve heard that you need disability and age data for your projects.  So I added these datasets to the Socio-Ec Data Report.  This data comes from the US Census 2000 SF1 and SF3 datasets.

Check out these datasets on the Socio-Ec data report sample page.

How do I Get Age & Disability data for my projects?

Sign into your Cubit Account.

Don’t have a free Cubit Account yet? You can sign up in less than 30 seconds on the Sign Up page.

Not ready to commit to an account? No worries. Take a test drive with the free Demo Account. No sign up required.

More questions? Visit the How Cubit Works page or contact me.

Why is this data free until January 31, 2009?

Kristen from Cubit

Kristen from Cubit

I’m still finalizing this dataset, and I need your opinion. Do you want just the raw data? Or would it be more helpful to have pre-calculated percentages like percent of population younger than 18 years old and percent of population older than 65 years old?  What do you think?

Let me know in the comments below. Or you can contact me.

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