What Are Housing Equity Indicators—and Why Do They Matter?
How housing is created or accessed is not equal. Behind every zoning decision, development project, or eviction case is a larger question: who benefits and who is left behind? It is a common misconception to think that people are excluded purely along racial lines; it is often more complex and the inequity more nuanced. Entire communities can be displaced, and how we measure inequity is an important factor in working towards unification and protection.
What Are Housing Equity Indicators?
Housing Equity Indicators help communities assess whether they have equal access to safe, affordable, and stable housing. They are a dashboard, and these measures can change. Some of the measures they track include: who can afford to live where, whether renters are protected from displacement, which neighborhoods offer access to jobs, schools, and transit, and how housing quality and safety vary across ZIP codes. Tracking these indicators helps advocates and lawmakers diagnose systemic inequities and drive more inclusive and effective policy decisions.
Common Housing Equity Indicators Include:
Rent Burden & Housing Cost Burden
Percentage of households spending more than 30% or 50% of their income on housing.Homeownership by Race & Income
Disparities in homeownership rates across demographic groups.Eviction Rates
How frequently renters—especially Black and Latinx households—are displaced through eviction filings.Access to Affordable Units
The availability of units at various income levels, particularly those affordable to extremely low-income renters.Housing Quality & Safety
Reports of code violations, overcrowding, lead exposure, or aging infrastructure.Zoning and Land Use Barriers
Neighborhoods where exclusionary zoning limits multi-family housing or perpetuates segregation.Proximity to Opportunity
The proximity of homes to public transit, quality schools, healthcare, and employment opportunities.Waitlist Lengths for Subsidized Housing
The number of families waiting years for a voucher or affordable unit.
Housing Indicators, Fair Housing, and Racial Justice
Housing equity indicators show where and for whom housing is failing. For example, if eviction rates are five times higher for LatinX families than white families, that’s not just a housing issue; it’s a civil rights issue. Similarly, if affordable housing is concentrated in a few neighborhoods, that reinforces patterns of economic and racial segregation and is modern redlining. Indicators are the objective, trackable data that hold leaders accountable for measurable progress and help show where progress is being made and where policies need improvement.
How Lawmakers, Advocates, and Nonprofit Developers like DCH Use Housing Equity Indicators
Data underlie decision-making across verticals, whether you are policy-making or nonprofit budgeting. This data helps us track our impact in communities to identify areas where we can improve outcomes, such as reducing being rent burden, enhancing neighborhood access, and promoting longer-term stability.
Putting Housing Indicators to work
Housing equity indicators are community stories in data form. They are a culmination of what we hear in our communities of legacy residents being pushed out due to rising costs or stuck on a waitlist for years; however, they are also the most powerful tool for transformation. What we can measure, we can change. Through thoughtful responses to indicators and research into the patterns underlying the indices, we can draft policies to address them.
We’re building accountability. Transparency. Justice. One indicator at a time.
