Data Watch: What cities need to quell mounting housing concerns

Title: Program Coordinator, Department of Health & Human Services
City: Paterson, N.J.

Like many communities across the nation, Paterson, N.J., faced a crisis with caring for the homeless during the COVID-19 pandemic. And like a growing number of city leaders across the country, Tenee Joyner, a program coordinator in the city's Department of Health & Human Services, knew that fully understanding homeless people’s experiences was critical to finding a solution.  
 
A 22-year veteran of city government, Joyner was part of a citywide team tapped to respond to a sudden lack of beds and shelter for the city's homeless population as many area faith-based shelters either closed their doors or sharply limited bed space to allow for social distancing when the pandemic hit. 
 
As part of that process, her team leveraged insights they gained as part of a Bloomberg Philanthropies-funded innovation training program to interview shelter residents and staff, among others, to better understand what homeless residents needed most. "Bloomberg helped us to organize the information," Joyner says. "It helped us in learning how to work together, even wearing different hats, in different departments."
 
The effort has already led to several service-boosting initiatives, including one where the city is upgrading its "warming centers" to create a Homeless Hub, where clients can drop in at any time and staff can determine what shelter would fit their needs best. The hub will have mailboxes and lockers and be "a place where we can build a relationship, and start offering services," Joyner says.
 
This focus on human-centered design has been a game-changer for the city, Joyner says. "There’s no other way to look at it," she says. "Someone may say, 'I don’t need you to give me food; I need you to help me get a Social Security card. I need my birth certificate because I was offered a job but can’t get it.' It’s not us interjecting our privilege into how someone can get services. It’s actually asking someone, 'What do you need? How can we do this better?'"

INNOVATION: To foster a culture of innovation and data, San Antonio, Texas, launched the Innovation Academy to train creative problem solvers across city departments and provide them with new skills to tackle innovative projects. (What Works Cities) 

URBAN DESIGN:  Smart city planning can create a built environment that eases the stresses of urban life and boost mental well-being for residents. (Bloomberg CityLab)

AIR QUALITY: As car ownership in Kigali, Rwanda, has quadrupled between 1999 and 2019, new research sheds light on the impact COVID-19 restrictions and car-free days have had on reducing air pollution. (City Monitor)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Los Angeles, Pittsburgh, and Santa Monica, Calif., are tapping federal funds to test solutions to support electric vehicle adaptation and acceleration in the United States. (Smart Cities Dive)

THE COST OF GUN VIOLENCE: Earlier this year Everytown for Gun Safety determined that gun violence cost the United States $280 billion every year—in medical costs, criminal justice costs, lost wages and productivity, etc. Now the organization has published an interactive calculator to help city leaders calculate these costs for their communities. (Everytown)

JOB OPPORTUNITY: Johns Hopkins University is hiring a Civic Engagement Director for its soon-to-be-launched center focused on public sector innovation, city transformation, and civic engagement. This position will lead a team dedicated to improving connections between residents and government using cutting edge methods to tackle pressing challenges in communities.

JOB OPPORTUNITIES: The city of Boston’s Department of Neighborhood Development is hiring a Product Owner and a Technology Support Specialist to assist the city in buildings stronger neighborhoods.

LEARNING OPPORTUNITY: The NYU Furman Center’s Housing Solutions Lab, Abt Associates, and the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy are now accepting applications for the Housing Solutions Workshop. This is a four-week intensive program of seminars, strategic consultation, and team-building to help small and midsize cities develop and implement comprehensive housing strategies that promote equity, affordability, and opportunity. Delegations from four cities will be selected through a competitive process to take part in the Workshop. You can learn more about the Workshop here.

LEARNING OPPORTUNITY: How can local governments use free information tools to assist in planning effective COVID-19 vaccine interventions? Learn more in this webinar hosted by Google, Ariadne Labs, and Boston University on August 31, from 12-1 p.m. ET. RSVP here.