In this episode, we're joined by Alex Alsup, Vice President of Research & Development at Regrid. We talk about the Detroit foreclosure crisis, Regrid’s work in collecting land parcel data, as well as transparency and accessibility in assessment.
We cover:
Introduction to Assessment Matters podcast 00:00
Alex’s bio and big ideas 00:35
Alex’s experience in parcel mapping, data collection, and tackling the Detroit property tax foreclosure crisis
How does land use and land taxation make housing so unaffordable in the US?
What caused the Detroit property tax foreclosure crisis? 5:13
Lack of consistent reassessment
Difficult to navigate bureaucratic poverty relief programs
Differences in homeowner vs renter experiences
Perverse incentives featuring speculative and delinquent landlords
What does the process look like to collect parcel data? 8:44
Maximizing freshness, coverage, and depth of parcel data
Incremental progress over a decade with regular updates
Data sources
What Regrid did differently from past parcel data collection 12:01
Specific focus on parcel boundaries and shapes
Broadening access to historically obscure and idiosyncratic knowledge
Current R&D projects and interests: the Detroit Assessment Gauge 13:31
comparing assessed values to US Census tract
Helping improve transparency and public trust
Providing the public with the technical language for assessments
How to see more of Regrid 17:42
Promoting data access via Data With Purpose:
