This map visualizes DC affordable housing data

A new tool is bringing open data to the affordable housing conversation in D.C., and provides visualize to make the numbers clearer.

Housing Insights not only maps out the physical neighborhoods, wards and housing developments in the District of Columbia, it also integrates affordable housing data from many sources to give users an idea of the crime rate, construction rate, median rent and more.

Civic hackers at Code for D.C. have been working with the Urban Institute and CNHED for a year to pull together an interactive map that brought together several previous sources of housing data, Curbed DC reported. They intend for the map to be used not by home or apartment-seekers, but by government officials and housing advocates.

“Having access to common data lets us have a shared starting point for a more productive conversation,” the project’s website states.

Along with providing a look at where affordable housing is located, the map is set up so that different areas of the city can be filtered through economic factors such as the cost of housing and the percentage of people who work in that region, and social factors such as the percentage of single mothers. This will allow advocates and lawmakers to easily narrow down the demographics that they wish to focus on.