Mapping to Explain Homelessness in the U.S.

A team at Sasaki has created the "Understanding Homelessness" website, full of interactive features and one particularly helpful data visualization.

1 minute read

April 13, 2017, 5:00 AM PDT

By James Brasuell @CasualBrasuell


Homeless Encampment

Alex Millauer / Shutterstock

Tanvi Misra shares news of a new data project by Gretchen Keillor and a team at Sasaki, aiming to "break the issue of homelessness down into simple, digestible parts through snazzy data visualizations."

The data visualization component of the project uses the Continuity platform created by Sasaki. The platform allows the user to layer information, such as number of homeless, homeless per capita, and housing prices, to get a better understanding of how homelessness manifests in different parts of the country. There's also a "strategies" section, which "lays out successful solutions for designers, policymakers, and service providers," explains Misra.

The entire project has its own website, titled Understanding Homelessness, which presents the story in historical context and with a narrative that reinforces the idea of homeless people as people, rather than data.

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