ANALYSIS OF METHODOLOGIES IN OPPORTUNITY MAPPING IN TUCSON, ARIZONA

Abstract

Since the passing of the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) policy by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), local governments and recipients of federal housing funds have needed a way to demonstrate they are taking action to promote fair housing in their jurisdiction. Opportunity mapping is an approach to solving this requirement that uses a composite index of metrics taken to represent the degree of access to “infrastructure and services” a community has (Kirwan Institute). A common issue across many approaches to opportunity mapping are the data sources chosen to be incorporated in the index. When creating an opportunity map that policy makers and public planners may use to guide decisions, it is imperative to ensure that the data sets chosen in the model will guide the viewer in the right direction. The goal of this project is to analyze the ways in which data related to housing are used in opportunity mapping in Tucson, Arizona. This project will employ textual analysis to analyze the discrepancies between the discussion of housing and opportunity in the AFFH and the way housing is accounted for in opportunity mapping in Tucson, Arizona. In the future, the results of this project could be used to investigate new methods of opportunity mapping that would improve upon the current approach.