Dashboard: Tracking California's Rent Relief Program
This dashboard was produced by the National Equity Atlas, in partnership with Housing NOW! California, to track the state’s rent debt crisis and the status of its Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP). It provided up-to-date data on the number of households who applied for ERAP funds, the status of those applications, the characteristics of applicants, and the allocation and distribution of rental relief funds.
The visual below highlights several key design elements used in the strategic design of this dashboard. Continue to the questions below the display to explore more about our approach to designing this dashboard.
Key Design Highlights
(A) Navigation that uses colored text to guide users through four key data questions from our core audience of advocates
(B) Data available at multiple levels of geography to support advocacy and outreach at the state, county, city, and zip code levels
(C) State-level data to help advocates track the status of applications and assess if the state processed applications in a timely manner
(D) A display featuring up-to-date comparisons of the various application statuses, which was critical information for advocates working at the local level and their efforts to meet the immediate needs of renters
(E) A red choropleth map that draws attention to key areas of need to support local advocates in targeting their outreach efforts
(F) A map and a drop-down menu that advocates could use to drill down to data at the zip code level for targeted outreach efforts
Who was the dashboard created in partnership with?
The dashboard was created in partnership with Housing NOW! California and the Western Center on Law & Poverty, who managed requesting and obtaining ERAP data from the California Department of Housing and Community Development.
Who was the dashboard created for?
This dashboard was created for two key audiences: local advocates at Housing NOW! California, who led outreach in communities in need of rental assistance, and advocates who led state-level efforts for Housing Is Key, the statewide emergency rental assistance program.
What was the intended use of the dashboard?
The dashboard was created to help advocates at Housing NOW! California identify the communities most likely in need of rental assistance. Making this information more accessible to them was critical, as they aimed to better target their outreach efforts and ensure that eligible households applied for emergency rental assistance. The dashboard was also designed to support Housing NOW! California’s leadership advocating for the continued funding of the program at the state level and to hold the state accountable for processing and dispersing the program funds in a timely manner.
What data is included in the dashboard?
The dashboard used current data from the Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey, Covid-19 Rent Relief Program data provided by the California Department of Housing and Community Development, and the 2015-2019 American Community Survey public use microdata sample from IPUMS USA.
What was the design approach?
Given that the dashboard was created for two audiences, its design needed to accommodate their distinct data needs. Our partners at Housing NOW! California had two key questions: 1) What is the status of ERAP applications and 2) Is the program reaching the households most in need of assistance? These questions guided our data analysis and the displays we designed to ensure that users at the local level were able to use the dashboard to address the questions. However, users at the state level had slightly different needs from local advocates. While local advocates needed up-to-date data to inform where they targeted their outreach efforts, those at the state level needed to track the overall program over time. To address their different needs, users could adjust the displays to explore data at the state or local level.
