New mapping software marries data from federal housing and environmental agencies to provide detailed, area specific information about toxic waste sites, abandoned factories and other hazards in U.S. communities. Residents, advocacy organizations, local governments and others will now have easy access to data they need to have informed conversations and to make smart decisions about the future of their communities. We're delighted that Secretary Cuomo and HUD are launching this initiative and we welcome it. By using HUD E-MAPS data, Cuomo explained, communities will be able to make knowledgeable decisions about sites for new local facilities, such as public and assisted housing, or help prioritize the demolition of existing complexes. A community interested in redeveloping an abandoned or underused industrial site can use the data to determine whether the land is contaminated and what financial resources area available to leverage redevelopment.
Families have the right to know about the quality of their environment.
By providing valuable environmental information mixed with housing information and population data, you have effectively set up a 'one stop shopping' site for decision makers and citizens alike. The backbone for the new mapping application is HUD's Community 2020TM software, a CD-ROM that provides users with more than 600 types of census data for geographic areas as big as a state or as small as a block. Developed initially in 1997 as an internal project management tool, the software has won an Innovations in Government Award from the Ford Foundation and Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. The software provides detailed, site specific financial, managerial, demographic and program information for almost every entitlement or competitive grant awarded by HUD since 1992. It includes information on single family and multi-family housing projects assisted by HUD's Federal Housing Administration.