2000115-Strengthening-Communities-with-Neighborhood-Data

Using Data for Neighborhood Improvement 209
of the properties within the SII area. By looking at the map, the team
could see immediately the condition of the property and whether the
property was tax delinquent or vacant or both. Armed with this information,
the team would make strategic decisions about specific properties
in the area, particularly whether a vacant property should be acquired
and, if so, whether its condition indicated that it should be renovated or
demolished. The map also revealed distressed (tax-delinquent or vacant)
properties located adjacent to properties where investments had already
been made. The team used this information to decide whether to acquire
such properties to eliminate the negative impact they might have on
already-acquired properties.
As the foreclosure crisis hit the Cleveland area with brute force, the
number of vacant and abandoned houses that neighborhoods were
already dealing with grew larger. In response to the crisis, the federal government
created the Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) to help
communities mitigate the negative impact of foreclosures and resulting
vacancies. The first round of NSP funds was awarded to individual cities
or counties. Round two, however, required more collaborative efforts.
The Cleveland–Cuyahoga Consortium for NSP2 was formed with the
Cuyahoga Land Bank as the lead and Cuyahoga County’s Development
Department, the Cleveland Department of Community Development,
the Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority, and several nonprofit
organizations as partners. These organizations came together and developed
a proposal for NSP2 funds that built on the data-driven model
used in the six SII neighborhoods (Cleveland–Cuyahoga Consortium
for NSP2 2009). Areas identified for NSP2 funding were selected on the
basis of need and opportunity. Need was determined by using comprehensive
data on home sales activity and residential vacancies from NEO
CANDO, and opportunity was based on an area’s community assets and
organizational capacity. Of the 20 target areas chosen for this funding,
15 were in the city of Cleveland and 5 were in the inner-ring suburbs of
the county.
NST worked closely with the 20 CDC and municipal groups who
worked in the areas targeted for NSP2 funding. Central to the NST
approach to stabilization was using up-to-date parcel-level data. Just as
critical, NST’s approach involved engaging with people and assisting them
in the best strategic use of the data to make decisions about problem properties.
The team’s strength lay in its collective expertise: it included individuals
with data and legal expertise as well as individuals with on-the-ground