Officials in Montgomery County, Md. — part of the Washington, D.C., metro area — have turned to Envisio technology to keep track of the area’s 2024-2029 strategic housing plan.
The effort is the latest example of the growing use of dashboards in the world of government technology. Some of that software is even used to prevent deaths by bringing together disparate flows of data under a single digital umbrella.
In Maryland, the county’s Housing Opportunities Commission, founded in 1974, seeks to match people with lower incomes with affordable and high-quality housing.
The ongoing plan seeks to expand the availability of affordable housing in a county that includes many federal government, biotech, medical, academic and private-sector professionals who tend to earn relatively high salaries. The plan also calls for more partnerships and services relevant to affordable housing.
So far, according to the dashboard, the county has achieved 24 percent progress toward its goals.
The tool also shows that the commission owns nearly 11,000 housing units — an increase of 256 units from last year, as of Friday — and a waitlist of almost 40,000 people seeking affordable housing assistance. Other metrics also help to paint a clear picture of the county’s housing.
The dashboard not only offers more transparency and accountability regarding the strategic housing plans, but helps the Housing Opportunities Commission to “strengthen the presentation of our internal data and make stronger correlations between our data and other local — and in some instances national — data,” according to Chelsea Andrews, the commission’s president and executive director.
Since the installation of the dashboard, the commission now makes more frequent progress reports and can better align department work to the overall strategic plans, she told Government Technology via an email interview.
More features are coming, she said.
They include expanded metrics — such as more property-level and customer service data — and heat maps of voucher locations. She also envisions using the dashboard to promote more “intradivisional collaboration” among public-sector workers.
“Where possible, our goal is to offer a more comprehensive picture,” Andrews said.
The Montgomery County push is just one recent example of using new tech to promote affordable housing.
In California, cities have begun using a platform designed to encourage quick and standardized construction of accessory dwelling units, often called granny flats. That platform was created in response to new state laws calling for more of those units to alleviate that state’s housing crisis.
The use of the dashboard in Montgomery County also reflects another trend: According to statistics provided by Envisio, there was a 3.2 percent increase between 2022 and 2025 of “organizations tracking at least one housing affordability measure,” a company spokesperson told Government Technology.
Other agencies that want to use dashboards for affordable housing should “be open-minded and prepared to gain insights about your organization that previously were not evident,” Andrews said. “There likely will be ‘ah ha’ moments as you determine what data to report and at what level of detail.”
As well, such organizations likely will find that staff members use the dashboard more than the public does, she said.
“In a growing organization, it’s really helpful to have a clear place that staff in different divisions can go to see what other parts of the agency are working on, or be able to quickly pull a data point and know that it is up to date,” Andrews said.
A stubborn problem such as affordable housing also could use more technology.
Assuming the budget was not an issue, Andrews said agencies such as the housing commission could use “a portal that allows those on the waitlist to track their own application status and place on the list would be ideal. Another solution would be a countywide system that automatically allows residents to qualify for related benefits when they apply for one.”
