Across the country, incomes have failed to keep up with increased housing costs, which has exacerbated an ongoing affordability crisis. In the face of these rising cost burdens, residents are more susceptible to unstable housing situations.

As these trends persist, local housing advocates have sought to promote efforts that allow residents to live comfortably in their homes while limiting the influence of exploitative development practices. But determining what data to collect to support these efforts can be difficult, as housing data are often overwhelming and outdated.

PODER Emma provides one viable strategy that integrates community engagement with data work to achieve better local outcomes and serves as an example for other localities seeking to create stability for their residents.

Navigating housing challenges in Emma

Emma, North Carolina, is a working-class neighborhood made up primarily of mobile home communities. Located on the outskirts of Asheville in Western North Carolina, the community is facing a widening affordability gap; PODER Emma calculated that between 2011 and the months leading up to Hurricane Helene in September 2024, home values increased by 210 percent while the median family income in surrounding Buncombe County only increased by 83 percent, according to American Community Survey 5-year estimates. After Hurricane Helene, the housing landscape became more precarious, as postdisaster redevelopment increased the demand for low-cost housing and heightened pressures from short-term rentals and other new housing.

In the wake of this confluence of factors, as well as uncertainty around federal housing policymaking, local advocates realized there was a need for real-time, community-owned data to support housing stability efforts. Our conversations in Emma highlighted the utility of capturing current trends and anticipating vulnerabilities in the neighborhood housing market in efforts to prioritize the residents most at risk in affordable housing solutions.

Supported by a grant through the Local Data for Equitable Communities program, PODER Emma mobilized community members and partner organizations to detect early warning signs of displacement through a neighborhood-wide housing conditions survey and a comprehensive vacant land parcel analysis tool.

Establishing a community-driven data infrastructure

A fundamental goal of this work was to develop a “community-driven data infrastructure.” Though the organization collected valuable housing data while developing their land parcel analysis tool, resident concerns about affordability and displacement were still missing from administrative data sources. In addition, PODER Emma values the participatory action research approach, which centers community members as researchers of the local conditions that directly affect them to inform action that is both effective and transformational.

To capture resident experiences, PODER Emma staff trained 22 community researchers in data collection and methodology and collectively developed a survey instrument. These researchers knocked on more than 500 doors, ultimately collecting 200 responses from mobile home residents, who shared about the conditions of their homes and the resources they needed to repair and preserve their housing. Residents most often raised the issue of mobile home skirting; 26 percent of homes needed replacements. Residents also identified inadequate flooring, walls, windows and doors, and plumbing as concerns.

Assembling timely parcel data to inform affordable housing development

Meanwhile, local affordable housing stakeholders including Habitat for Humanity, nonprofit developers, and community land trusts, wanted to better understand which land parcels in the neighborhood were best positioned for future housing development. This information could help mission-aligned developers prioritize the placement of affordable housing on these parcels before they could be acquired by private development companies that would ultimately charge higher rents.

PODER Emma crafted a user-friendly land parcel analysis tool, which can be filtered by vacancy status, zoning, environmental hazards, housing tenure, and more. The tool was reviewed by community members and these same stakeholders. This review also helped staff synthesize the data presented in the tool with development conditions and trends in Emma and established a longer-term partnership with the stakeholders who could use the data to inform affordable housing efforts.

Developing solutions through shared data interpretation

Throughout the data collection process, PODER Emma kept residents informed about their progress, attending neighborhood council meetings and leading collaborative discussions to interpret the incoming data. PODER Emma and residents discussed findings through a “problem tree,” shifting the focus from visible data points to the more structural or “root” conditions contributing to them. For example, this conversation highlighted that while many residents have the skills to repair common housing maintenance issues, they did not have the materials to do so. Staff and residents then discussed opportunities to acquire bulk materials and making them available to community members, as well as assembling a directory of small businesses that could be available for residents who need home repairs.

“When you share your experience as a community member, it does lead to collective solutions”—PODER Emma staff

This practice helped staff raise residents’ awareness of local conditions and bring the data highlighted in the tool into ongoing conversations. Yet the resident engagement process had other unexpected value. Staff described the overall process as creating “rhythm” between community members and staff as they analyzed the data. Residents contributed to the development of the tool by suggesting additional parcels that the tool should consider. This centered community members as core collaborators in problem-solving.

What other communities can learn from Emma

Other communities across the country have faced similar challenges to Emma, with an imbalance between housing costs increasing and incomes. Meanwhile, climate change has expanded the reach and accelerated the pace of disasters nationwide, which further threatens housing stability, especially for communities of color.

The community-centered collaborative approach undertaken by PODER Emma models how to mobilize and respond to these conditions. By centering the community in data collection, these communities can foster conditions that promote inclusive advocacy responses. Their work also highlights the value of collecting tangible, relevant, and comprehensible parcel data to confirm community perceptions, while building collaborative relationships with affordable housing stakeholders can reinforce a productive data pipeline to inform inclusive development.

Together, this model of combining comprehensive housing data with community engagement can make it easier for residents to be active collaborators and establish a long-term infrastructure to inform local responses and policy opportunities.