March 2018 PolicyMap Update
LIHTC Data and Affordable Housing
The Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) provides incentives for the development of new affordable housing. But the affordability requirements expire, sometimes after 15, sometimes after 30 years. If you know where these credits are set to expire, you can take measures to deal with the impacts. Read more on our blog.
My Saved Work Gets an Upgrade
The interface that lets users save their PolicyMap work just got a nice upgrade. Maps, tables, reports, custom regions, uploaded data, and more can now be accessed from a cleaner, faster, and more capable “My Saved Work” window. You can now save different kinds of work (like maps, tables, and reports) in combined project folders, to keep your project better organized. Read more on our blog.
Updated Data
- Local health risk data from the CDC’s 500 Cities project, including data on cholesterol screening, dentist visits, and limited sleep, is updated to 2015.
- New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) projects and transactions, by number and dollar amount, from the CDFI Fund are updated through 2015.
- CDFI transactions, by number, median dollar amount, and total dollar amount, from the CDFI Fund are updated through 2014.
- Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) small business and small farm lending data from the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) is updated to 2016.
- Unemployment data from the BLS is updated to December 2017.
New Blog Posts
- Occupation Data vs. Industry Data
Occupation data and industry data both can tell you a lot about an area’s economy, but they show distinctly different things. With data from the Census’s ACS and County Business Patterns, and BLS’s Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, there’s plenty of data to compare. - Opportunity Zones and PolicyMap
PolicyMap can be used to help designate Opportunity Zones, a new economic development program introduced with the recent tax bill. NMTC-eligibility can be combined with other indicators to see which areas will benefit most.