Newsletter: October 2025

FEATURED POST

Analyzing Housing Supply and Affordability in Chicago Neighborhoods

New data from PolicyMap and Moody’s Analytics reveals how widespread Chicago’s housing shortage has become. Nearly every neighborhood, from Logan Square to Bridgeport, shows some degree of undersupply. Driving home prices far beyond what middle-income households can afford. By pairing Housing Gap Estimates with Census home values, PolicyMap helps city leaders pinpoint where scarcity drives costs, where oversupply signals disinvestment, and where targeted policy interventions are most needed.

ON THE BLOG

Preserving LIHTC Units: A Key Strategy in Addressing Housing Shortages

New research from Moody’s Analytics, PolicyMap, and Reinvestment Fund shows that in low-income neighborhoods, rental units make up 80% of the housing stock. With many Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) properties nearing the end of their affordability periods, the risk of losing units in already strained markets is growing. See how PolicyMap’s integration of housing gap data with LIHTC timelines helps planners, policymakers, and advocates anticipate where rental shortages could deepen and where preservation efforts are most critical.

CUSTOMER STORY

Cities for Financial Empowerment (CFE) Fund

The Cities for Financial Empowerment Fund’s mission is to leverage municipal engagement to improve the financial stability of low- and moderate-income households by embedding financial empowerment strategies into local government infrastructure. Learn how through its CityStart initiative, and help from PolicyMap’s data tools, the CFE Fund equips local governments to better understand financial challenges and craft targeted solutions that promote stability and equity for underserved communities.

We updated Opportunity Zone designations in PolicyMap to incorporate recent IRS guidance which identifies designated OZs that are fully comprised of “Rural Areas”. These current OZ designations will remain in effect through Dec 31, 2026 after which new designations will take effect.

Fair Market Rent and Small Area Fair Market Rent data from HUD have been updated to 2026. Data for Small Area FMR is much more widely available from 2025 on. HUD has expanded data to non-metropolitan counties in this release.

The Black Knight home sales quarterly data has been updated for 2025, Quarter 2.

HUD’s CDBG program activity point dataset has been updated to 2024.

*New Data* displaying Medicare-Accepting Provider locations from CMS, including the ability to filter to provider specialty, has been added to PolicyMap.

We are committed to our promise of curated, cleaned, standardized, and always updated data. We’re posting real-time updates on our website, LinkedIn and BlueSky.

Published Research

Explore scholarly works from students and researchers using PolicyMap.

Residential segregation, housing cost, and smoking behaviors in Black Americans, published in ScienceDirect

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Join Us!

2025 Charleston Conference
November 3 – 7, 2025
Charleston, SC

PolicyMap is excited to join Charleston Hub for the 2025 Charleston Vendor Showcase! Stop by Booth #3 to learn about new data, Curated Collections, and many platform enhancements.
Register here!

Newsletter: October 2025

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