Trulia Maps Cover Everything from Demographics to Crime to Home Values

Trulia is basically a real estate website but it also has an incredible amount of tools available that would be useful perhaps for grant writing and even program development.These tools can be found for any place/zip code you insert into their search engine. Here's a screen shot below on age demographics for the a census tract in south Utica.  Click on it to enlarge it.

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You can basically check out any tract by clicking it. Note that the bar at the top of the map allows you to bring up data on any number of topics and subtopics.

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So click on this link to the trulia mapping page and see how your neighborhood or town stacks up !

Regional Homelessness: Individuals Alone and Persons in Familes (2006-2014)

HUD provides data for homelessness on a somewhat localized level. They use what they refer to as "Continuums of Care" (or CoCs). These tend to be city or urban areas, as well as combined counties, as is the case for the Madison-Oneida County region in upstate NY.

Locally there is a coalition focused on homelessness and on housing related issues. They are part of the data collection process used by HUD. This is the Mohawk Valley Housing and Homelessness Coalition. The mission of the MV Housing and Homelessness Coalition is to prevent and end homelessness in the Mohawk Valley.  Their work includes sustaining an inclusive, community wide, system-level planning, program development and program integration process that targets public and private, local, state, and federal resources to the areas of greatest need.

Below is several years worth of data from HUD on regional homelessness. Please note how drastically the data drops between 2010 and 2011. It is in that time frame that HUD redefined who was to be included in the homeless survey, excluding those that might have taken refuge in a residential program that also offers treatment services. For better or worse, this definitional change certainly impacted what the local homeless numbers look like.  

If you'd like additional information about housing or homelessness in our area, please check out the MV Housing and Homelessness Coalition website.

You can click the graph below to enlarge it for better viewing.

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You can also go to Homeless Analytics and view maps showing a variety of data on homelessness for your region. They include maps like the one below as well as reports (note the circled red area). Here's screenshot of the map for our area. Click to enlarge it.

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Where People Live: 2014 Regional Look at Families by Dwelling Type

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Herkimer County Single Family Housing Units as Rentals by Municipality

Yesterday I posted a graphic showing how there has been an increase in the use of single family dwellings as rental units for our region. In fact, since 1970, the use of single family dwellings for rental properties has increased by 45%. Below is a table showing the percent of all single family housing units in each municipality in Herkimer County that are being used as rental units.

Note that quite a few of the municipalities' data need to be viewed with caution due to the fact that the margins of error are 10% or more of their total housing unit counts!

Click the table to enlarge it.

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Single Family Housing Units as Rentals: 1970 Versus 2013

A recent article by the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard suggest that more and more single family homes are being used as rentals than ever before."The recent growth of single-family rentals is unprecedented," reports the Joint Center for Housing Studies.

Looking at local housing data seems to bear this out. Below is a graphic showing how, since 1970, we have seen a regional grow in overall housing stock (12%), and more specifically an increase in single family housing units (21%). At the same time the region has experienced an increase the number of renters (up 15%).

More to the point, there has been a very large jump in the number of renters that are occupying single family homes (attached or detached). Renters in single family homes have jumped from around 6,400 in 1970 to more than 9.200 in 2013, and increase of about 45% !

Click on the graphic to enlarge it.

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How Long Have Your Neighbors Been, Well, Neighbors?

The graphic below shows when people in Herkimer County moved into their current homes. Note that almost one in ten have been in their present location more than 45 years ! You can click on the graphic to enlarge it.

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Why the ACS Asks What It Does? A Review of the Housing and Population Questions

So the American Communities Survey (ACS) is the new (if being more than 10 years old is still considered new) way of getting data about our country out there for policymakers, businesses and the general public. The ACS, which is around 60 questions long, is really the ONLY resource for many of the questions asked.


So where do these sixty plus questions come from? And why are they asked? The links below will take you to either the Housing ACS questions, or the Population ACS questions and provide you with a review of each question and some information about how the data is used and why it is required.

 Housing Questions Review

 Population Questions Review 

Regional Housing Stock: Owner Occupied Units and Housing Stock Age

It is the quintessential American Dream to own one's own home. Recent data from the American Community Survey shows about seven out of every ten occupied housing units are "owner occupied" for our region - in Herkimer County the figure is roughly 72% while in Oneida County it is 68%.

Home ownership is not an easy road for many people, given previous posts citing our local income and poverty levels. Fortunately even many of our poorest citizens have options on the path to owning their own homes, such as through the Herkimer County and Oneida County Habitat for Humanity groups. The premise of their efforts is to partnership with people in need of a home in order to assist them in building and renovating decent, affordable housing within each respective county. As their members like to say, they offer "a hand up, not a hand out." To learn more about what they do, and how families get selected to become partners, you may want to visit THIS PAGE from the Herkimer County Habitat for Humanity.

Below are tables for each municipality in Herkimer and Oneida Counties and data on their occupied housing units, including the age of the housing stock.

Click to Enlarge Herkimer County Data

Click to Enlarge Oneida County Data

In addition, the maps below also show the percent of owner occupied housing units by census block groups in each respective county.

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Regional 2011 ACS Housing Data By Municipality

Data from the 2011 American Communities Survey  for Herkimer and Oneida Counties concerning total housing units, occupied housing units, and the age of the housing stock can be found below. Click on either image to see information about Herkimer or Oneida Counties housing from the ACS 2011 Five Year Estimates.

Click To Enlarge Herkimer County Housing Data Table

Click To Enlarge Oneida County Housing Data Table

Statewide County Housing Data: Occupied Units, Persons and Vacancies

Sometimes it is important to put local census data in perspective within the context of the state. Provided below are data on housing, occupancy, vacancies and tenure for each county in the State based on the Census 2010 data.

Vacant and Seasonal Housing Data for Oneida County Towns

The table below shows vacant and seasonal housing for towns in Oneida County. The data comes from the Census 2010 and indications are that about a third of all vacant housing in the towns is due to seasonal housing. The Town of Forestport has far and away the highest concentration of seasonal housing, with more than 60% of ALL housing being seasonal housing. The next highest concentrations are in Remsen and Vienna.

NYS Board of Realtors Data: Housing Sales 2009 - 2011

The New York State Association of Realtors tracks the number of sales and median sales price of existing single-family homes sold by Realtors. Reports are available on a monthly, quarterly, annual and year-to-date basis on their website.

In the meantime, here is the most recent data for Herkimer County, Oneida County, and New York State.

Regional Housing Unit Counts

Knowing the number of housing units in each county, and in each municipality, helps local policy makers plan for future development and marketing. Below are two simple tables with data for both Herkimer and Oneida Counties and their constituent municipalities from the 2010 Census.