As an organization either applying to HUD for NSP grant dollars or interested in the program, you know that HUD expects grantees to consider several specific pieces of data in preparing plans and strategies for targeting funds.  To make that work easier, we have mapped all that data and made it available for you on PolicyMap, the online data and mapping tool we created to aid public and social investors in understanding places and considering investment strategies. All public data and use of the tool for this purpose is free.

What can I do with the maps?

• Use the maps online to better understand which areas HUD considers most at risk for foreclosure or which areas would be eligible for funds based on their income.
• See if a particular address is in an eligible area by typing the address into the Search Location bar and putting the Income Eligible Status layer on the map.
• Create and save maps as either jpegs or pdfs to pull them right into your HUD application.
• Access any of the other public data available for free in PolicyMap that you may want to consider as a part of your application.  You may want to look at USPS Vacancy data under Neighborhood Conditions, or the HMDA subprime data under Mortgage Originations. 
• If you need more information mapped about certain areas for your application like home sale prices (2000 through 2007Q4) or current demographic estimates at the block group or census tract level, you can subscribe for $200/month.  Just visit our subscription page to learn more.  Subscribing also gives you access to school performance data as well as a unique reporting function that allows you to generate profiles of a radius around an address or of custom regions you create.

How else can TRF help me with my application?

As you may know, PolicyMap is a service of The Reinvestment Fund, a non-profit CDFI based in Philadelphia.  In addition to providing agencies with data through PolicyMap, TRF is working with various state and county agencies around the country to determine where to target these limited resources to ensure the greatest likelihood of neighborhood stabilization. We realize that you have little time to develop a method for allocating these resources and while the funding seems significant, it is not when compared to the cost of working with abandoned/foreclosed properties.  If you would like to learn more about our analytic method and/or retain the services of TRF’s Policy Department please contact cathy.califano@trfund.com. 

Once I receive my grant, how could PolicyMap benefit me going forward?

Going forward, you will need an inventory of foreclosure properties in your area to track progress in the implementation of your programs.  As you collect data, the team at PolicyMap can load it to allow you to monitor progress over time.  To learn more about how others already load data into PolicyMap, contact me at maggie.mccullough@trfund.com.

We recognize that the turnaround time on these applications is tight.  To help you better understand how to use these maps, we’ve schedule a series of online training sessions just on this HUD NSP data.  Sessions will be held at 11:00 am and 2:00 pm EST starting tomorrow on Friday, October 24^th, Monday, October 27^th and Tuesday, October 28^th.  To sign up for a session, click here.  We hope that what we’ve provided thus far is of benefit to you as you prepare you application. 

Maggie McCullough

Director of PolicyMap

How to Start:

1. Go to www.policymap.com/map
2.  Register (for free)
3.  Choose any of the data layers listed under HUD’s NSP Data in the State and Local Gov’t tab (see Add Data Layer). 
4.  Zoom into your area of interest or use the Search Location bar across the top to type in a city, zip code or address you want to explore.
5. To see the value assigned to a block group or census tract by HUD, click on any shaded part of the map (a feature only available to registered users).

More help is available via a fuller Quick Start Guide, frequent online tutorials or by calling 1-866-923-MAPS (6277).