User Guide
How do I use this platform?
You can use this platform to learn about housing policies to support affordable home development on religious-owned parcels, identify religious parcels with development potential, and learn more about the Eastside's housing crisis from in-depth reports.
Use the dropdown menus to select a geography from the list. For most data, you can toggle between individual Eastside cities as well as the whole Eastside area ("Combined Eastside Cities").
Navigate to the in-depth reports from the "Reports" tab. At the top of each report, you will be able to change the geography whose data are shown in the report.
In the top right corner of each chart block, you can choose to download the data as a CSV file or an image of the chart as a PNG file. Also, in the top right corner of each report, you can choose to download the entire contents of the report as a PDF file or all the data from the report as an Excel file.
Glossary
Learn more about the housing terms used throughout the data platform.
- Area Median Income (AMI): represents the midpoint in the distribution of household incomes within a certain geographic region. HUD publishes annual AMI levels for regions, adjusted for family size. The HUD-provided AMI is used to determine applicants’ eligibility for both federally and locally funded housing programs where participation is dependent on income levels.
- Cost Burden: A household is considered cost burdened when 30% or more of household income is spent on gross housing costs (can apply to renters or homeowners).
- Severe Cost Burden: A household is considered severely cost burdened when 50% or more of household income is spent on housing.
- Deed-Restricted Units: Otherwise known as subsidized units or income-restricted units, these homes may receive forms of government subsidy, and typically have some form of covenant that restricts rent prices and rent growth to be affordable to lower-income households.
- Equity: Equity, in the context of this resource, means ensuring that all individuals have fair and equal opportunities to secure safe and suitable housing, regardless of factors like race, ethnicity, age, disability status, familial status, gender, ability, sexual or gender orientation, economic status, or location of residence. Housing equity aims to eliminate disparities and systemic barriers that can lead to unequal access to housing.
- Home Values Compared to Supportable Home Price: Total monthly payment was calculated using median income, prevailing mortgage rates and average state-wide property tax estimates. Homes are considered affordable if the total monthly payment does not exceed 30% of gross household pretax income (as defined by Housing and Urban Development).
- Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC): The Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Program is a federal program that provides a dollar-for-dollar tax credit to support the development of affordable rental housing. The LIHTC program distributes federal income tax credits to developers through state housing finance agencies, which are responsible for determining which projects receive tax credits under the state’s allocation. There are two general types of credits that can be awarded. 9% credits are higher-value credits that cover a greater percentage of projects’ development costs, and are awarded on a competitive basis. 4% credits are lower-value credits that cover a lower percentage of projects’ development costs, and are generally awarded to any projects that meet specific programmatic requirements and are financially feasible. 4% credits are usually paired with tax-exempt bond financing to make up the difference.
- Opportunity: Locating housing in opportunity areas means that households will have equitable access to employment, transit, schooling, healthcare, and other needs. When housing is located in segregated or impoverished areas, or when poverty becomes concentrated, residents have fewer opportunities, poorer health, and even lower life expectancy.
- Tenure: Housing tenure refers to the financial arrangement and ownership structure under which someone has the right to live in a house or apartment. Typical forms of tenure include renter-occupancy and owner-occupancy.
- Vacancy: Residential units that are unoccupied are considered to be vacant. There are several different reasons a home may be vacant, including: if the home is for rent or for sale, if it is a second home (seasonal use), if it is rented or owned but not currently occupied, or if the home was foreclosed upon or in need of repair.
- Housing Typology: A housing typology is based on the number of units in a structure, and can include single-family housing (detached and attached single-unit buildings) or multifamily housing (residential buildings consisting of two or more housing units).
- Multifamily Housing: For the purposes of this platform, multifamily housing is defined as a residential building consisting of two or more housing units.
- Naturally Occurring Affordable Housing (NOAH): Naturally occurring affordable housing is defined as housing that is priced by market forces at rates that are affordable to low income households. Housing is traditionally considered affordable if the total housing cost (rent or mortgage plus utilities) for the household represents no more than 30% of its income. NOAH housing often makes up a significant portion of a jurisdiction’s affordable housing stock, in addition to publicly subsidized housing.
- Public Housing: Public housing is a type of affordable housing that has been traditionally owned by a local government agency or authority. In most places, this is a public housing authority. HUD provides federal aid to local housing authorities to operate housing for residents, who pay rents that they can afford. In the United States today, there are approximately 1.2 million households living in public housing units, managed by some 3,300 housing authorities (HUD).
- Single-Family Housing: Residential building typology, which may include detached or attached units, which only includes 1 unit.
- Supportive Housing: Supportive housing is affordable housing that also includes support services designed to help tenants stay stably housed and build necessary life skills. Supportive housing can be designed either to be permanent or temporary for residents, with temporary housing targeted towards individuals who may be able to transition to traditional housing without support services over time. Supportive housing has been a successful tool to house populations that may be difficult to serve with traditional housing, such as chronically homeless adults.
What data sources are shown in the platform?
Learn more about the data sources HR&A uses to understand housing market dynamics.
The American Community Survey (ACS) produces a wide range of demographic, socioeconomic, and housing data at many geographic levels, including down to the local level. The U.S. Census Bureau administers the ACS to about 3% of all U.S. households every year and uses this sample to make estimates nationwide. ACS 5-year estimates represent data collected over five years, denoted by the last year in that period. With more years of data, the 5-year estimates provide a more detailed and reliable picture of the population than the 1-year estimates but include less recent data. The breadth of available data makes the ACS a useful resource for policymakers and researchers seeking to understand population characteristics and housing supply. Data are currently available through 2023. HR&A accesses ACS data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s ACS application programming interface (API).
Freddie Mac calculates the weekly average interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages based on the Primary Mortgage Market Survey of lenders from across the country. Data are reported to Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis' FRED platform and are identified as the MORTGAGE30US product. HR&A accesses the data from FRED using an API.
The King County Income-Restricted Housing Database compiles data on subsidized, income-restricted rental housing properties within King County. The data included in this platform are current as of December 31, 2022.
The Multifamily Tax Subsidy Projects (MTSP) Income Limits set the maximum incomes for households to qualify for affordable housing funded by the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) and tax-exempt bonds. Federal mandates require the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to update income limits annually based on the median family income for households of different sizes in each HUD Fair Market Rent (FMR) Area across the country. HUD's income limits are critical for understanding the supply of, need for, and development of affordable housing. Data are currently available through 2024. HR&A accesses MTSP Income Limits from the HUD website.
HR&A has analyzed parcel data from Regrid to identify religious-owned land parcels as well as to simplify zoning districts for analysis of density bonus criteria.
The Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS) is a subset of data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (ACS). Instead of the ACS’s data which are pre-tabulated at the geography level, PUMS data are anonymized and published at the individual and housing unit levels. PUMS allows researchers to access detailed demographic, economic, and housing data for customized analyses while protecting respondents' privacy. Data are currently available through 2023. HR&A accesses PUMS data from the Census Bureau’s PUMS API.
Zillow Research is a division of the online real estate marketplace Zillow that focuses on conducting and publishing housing market indexes, analyses, and reports. Zillow’s data covers various aspects of the housing market, such as home values, rent prices, for-sale listings, and market predictions, using data collected from their platform and other sources. Data are currently available through 2025. HR&A accesses Zillow Research’s Housing Data from the Zillow website.