March 15, 2021

Dear Atlas users,

As we mark a full year since the beginning of the Bay’s shelter-in-place ordinance, our neighbors who already faced the burdens of structural racism and extreme inequality have been most impacted by the pandemic’s health and economic impacts. The Atlas team continues to partner with local advocates and policy leaders to bring equity to the forefront of our region’s recovery. Here are a few highlights:

Bay Area Renters Face Mounting Debt
Following up on our eviction risk analyses for Bay Area counties, today we released a new analysis and fact sheet describing rent debt and eviction risk in the Bay Area region. Using Census Household Pulse Survey data for the region from late January, we find that 137,500 renter households are experiencing rent shortfall and potentially face eviction if not covered by an effective eviction moratorium. We estimate that they owe about $488 million in debt.

Racial Equity Data Hub Analyzes Black Prosperity in the Bay Area
Last month, the Tableau Foundation launched its Racial Equity Data Hub, in partnership with the National Equity Atlas. The Hub is designed to provide data and tools needed to understand racism in all of its forms, and to enable movement leaders to effectively use data to advocate for change. The Atlas team worked with Tableau expert Chantilly Jaggernauth of Lovelytics to produce two visualizations for the Hub. Our visualization “How is the Black population doing in the Bay Area?” presents indicators of economic and political inclusion, education, and justice for the region’s Black population. Tableau invites community members to participate in shaping the Hub’s future growth through this forum.

Atlas Findings Power Policy Change in Contra Costa County
We were happy to participate in the Contra Costa Budget Justice Coalition’s presentation to the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors on equity and racial justice issues with the pandemic on February 9. Contra Costa County has the most households that are behind on their water bills of all counties in the region: about 30,595 households have water debt. The presentation prompted local officials to begin plans to allocate aid to households with water arrearages.

New California Eviction Risk Data Released
In partnership with Housing Now!, the Atlas team released an updated analysis of rent debt in California. We found that over 814,000 households were behind on rent in January, or 14 percent of all renter households. Renters owe an estimated $2.4 billion in rent debt — or $2,900 per household. Immediate action, including debt forgiveness and stronger eviction protections, is crucial to ensure renters with low income and renters of color are included in an equitable recovery. Find the analysis here.

Sharing Atlas Research at UC Berkeley Housing Solutions Event
On March 12, the Berkeley Opportunity Lab hosted an afternoon of talks with Bay Area housing experts aimed at generating new insights and solutions to the challenges of housing supply and affordability, homelessness and displacement, and the question of how to ensure broad and equitable economic development. Sarah Treuhaft, Vice President of Research at PolicyLink, shared our rent debt research at the event alongside Senator Scott Weiner, and panelists from SPUR, TechEquity Collaborative, and UC Berkeley.

Atlas in the News
Media outlets continue to cover our rent debt and eviction risk research, including San Jose Spotlight, CBS San Francisco, San Luis Obispo Tribune, KSRO, and KFBK. Find a full list of our media coverage here.

Thank you,

Bay Area Equity Atlas team 
 

 

Dear Atlas users,

We’ve had an exciting month, from launching the Racial Equity Data Lab to equipping housing advocates across the country with new data on the Covid-driven rent debt crisis. As summer kicks off, we remain focused on producing research and data tools to advance an equitable recovery and shared prosperity. Here are some updates:

Clearing $19 Billion in Back Rent Urgently Needed for Equitable Recovery

This week, we released new national and local data on our Rent Debt Dashboard, produced in partnership with with Right to the City Alliance. As of the end of April, 5.8 million renters — overwhelmingly low-income households of color who’ve lost employment income during the pandemic — owe nearly $19 billion in back rent. With the federal eviction moratorium scheduled to expire at the end of June, clearing this debt is urgently needed to prevent an eviction crisis and make equitable recovery possible. In California, our data was included in a report from Housing NOW, BARHII, and PolicyLink about how the state can strengthen its rental assistance programs. See the data for your community on the dashboard and check out our updated analysis. 

Rent Debt Data Supports “Cancel the Rent” Campaign in Oregon

In partnership with Oregon’s Community Alliance of Tenants, the Atlas team released a new fact sheet on rent debt and households behind on rent in Oregon. Even as economic recovery is picking up, in Oregon one in 10 renter households, many of whom are people of color and have low incomes, still owe a total of $170 million in back rent. These renters were the hardest hit by pandemic shutdowns and layoffs, underscoring the continued need for renter protections and rent cancellation as part of an equitable recovery. The new data were presented at the Oregon Cancel the Rent Digital Town Hall alongside stories and learnings from tenant leaders. You can find a recording of the town hall here.

Getting Started in the Racial Equity Data Lab: Create Your Own $15/Hour Fact Sheet

Last month, we launched the Racial Equity Data Lab, a new space on the Atlas where you can create unique data displays, dashboards, and maps. The Lab has everything you need to tell your community’s equity story using Atlas data: ready-to-use datasets, data visualization basics, and a step-by-step guide to get you started. You can watch the recording from our introductory webinar here.

Join us this Thursday, June 3, at 12 pm PT for the second installment of our three-part webinar series, “Getting Started in the Racial Equity Data Lab: Create Your Own $15/Hour Fact Sheet.” Through this series, the Atlas team and our partners at Tableau and Lovelytics will walk you through each step of creating your own $15/hour fact sheet, from accessing the data to publishing a custom visualization that you can download, share, and use to advance equitable recovery strategies in your community. If you missed Part 1: Exploring Your Data, you can watch the recording or follow the instructions in the step-by-step guide on the Lab to update the data for your fact sheet. Click here to register for Part 2: Designing Your Data Viz.

Atlas Team Presents to House Committee on Ways and Means

On May 21, the Atlas team shared the National Equity Atlas with the Ways and Means Committee, the chief tax-writing committee of the US House of Representatives on a panel titled, “Measuring What we Value: Bridging Gaps in Data and Reporting on Race and Ethnicity”that included experts in disaggregated data Randall Akee, Nancy Lopez Ninez Ponce, and Rhonda Sharpe. The Committee recently created a Racial Equity Initiative to address the role of racism in perpetuating health and economic inequities. The Atlas team shared our work to highlight the power of disaggregated data to advance equitable, targeted solutions.

You’re Invited: Join the Measurable Equity One Year Challenge

Join Clear Impact and the National Equity Atlas team for a webinar on June 15 (11 am PT / 2 pm ET) to learn more about the Measurable Equity One Year Challenge. Clear Impact designed this challenge to help government, non-profit, and foundation leaders assess, plan, and advance racial equity using a suite of free resources and tools, including a Racial Equity Scorecard powered by Atlas data. Register here.

In the News

This month, U.S. News, The Intercept, Duluth News Tribune, Governing, The Daily Californian, MPR News, Berkeley News, Minn Post, and AL.com all cited findings from our Rent Debt Dashboard, on both the national and local level. StreetsBlog cited our commute time indicator, which reveals that Black workers have 12 percent longer commute times than their White counterparts. Finally, Reuters covered the launch of our Racial Equity Data Lab.

- The National Equity Atlas team at PolicyLink and the USC Equity Research Institute (ERI)