Giving Compass' Take:

• To end homelessness, there needs to be a shift toward evidence-based, data-driven practices. To do this successfully, organizations are capturing and showing data through data visualization tools. 

• How can more funders support data visualization to drive progress on social issues? 

• Learn the facts about homelessness in the U.S. with this data visualizations. 

One of the most important advances in the effort to end homelessness has been the shift toward evidence-based, data-driven practices.  This requires analyzing large swaths of data from HMIS, HUD, and other related sources to see what efforts are actually moving the needle.

That’s an awful lot of information to try to explain to anyone: a board member, a reporter, a policymaker, or just about anyone else that isn’t a researcher. And while complex spreadsheets might capture the data effectively, they’re poor tools for explaining what the data means.

One of the most effective ways of communicating this kind of information is through data visualization.

A data visualization is simply a representation of data in a graphical way.  Visualizing data means viewing the information in formats like bar charts, density maps, tables, scatter plots, tree maps, and even using interactive tools such as data dashboards or data stories.

In recent years, more communities have embraced visualization of homelessness data.  This trend will only continue, and the visualizations will improve as the developers in the field hone their skills.  These visualizations provide a multitude of benefits in the world of homelessness data, including:

  • Easily monitoring progress for each person in a caseload
  • Viewing trends in lengths of stay and exits to permanent housing
  • Easily seeing if the system is reducing homelessness in the community
  • Determining if the average length of time homeless is decreasing
  • Understanding how many people return to homelessness after being housed
  • Proving efficacy of housing programs like Rapid Re-Housing and Permanent Supportive Housing

At the National Alliance to End Homelessness, data visualization is critical creating a more comprehensive State of Homelessness report.

Another visualization available in that same map allows the viewer to see which state made the most progress toward ending homelessness since 2007.  By selecting “Total Homeless” for the “Population Filter” and “Percent Change from 2007” for the “Count or % Change Filter” it quickly becomes clear that Michigan has made a 70% decrease in their overall homeless population since 2007.

Read the full article about data visualization by Jackie Janosko at National Alliance to End Homelessness.