Council previews new housing dashboard with 9,098‑unit production goal

Nora Cahill, the city’s public policy analyst, presented a draft affordable‑housing dashboard the city plans to publish under Neighborhood and Development Services. She said the dashboard is designed for multiple audiences — the general public, researchers, advocates, nonprofits and staff — and aims to surface needs, development trends, and city investments in an accessible format.

Cahill highlighted a prominent progress gauge that tracks a production goal of "9,098 units by 2050," with a shorter, five‑year view showing roughly 1,800 units to make the gauge legible. She also pointed to wage and cost visualizations that relate occupations to a two‑bedroom "housing wage": "a person earning $21.94 an hour and working 40 hours a week ... could afford a 2 bedroom apartment at around $1,100 a month paying no more than 30% of their income," Cahill said. The dashboard shows about 30% of households are cost‑burdened and that more than 50% of renters 25 and older pay 30% or more of income toward housing.

Councilmembers asked for clarity on data frequency and filters (for example, making local funding the default view and surfacing total investment to explain a one‑time federal 'COVID' spending bump). Cahill said most data will be updated annually, with some monthly updates retained (for example, waiting‑list counts), and recommended including an accessible two‑page summary or "cheat sheet" to help lay readers and community members understand progress toward strategic goals.