The House Facts data standard is a uniform format for reporting government data on the operation, safety, and performance of residential buildings.
Local, state or federal government agencies regulate multiple public health and safety standards for residential buildings. Residential properties may be subject to multiple laws enforced by multiple local agencies to protect building and occupant comfort, health and safety. Residential regulatory standards vary by local but typically include those for:
- Building structure and habitability (structure, sanitation, moisture)
- Building systems (heat, water, electric, sewage, air, light)
- Building safety hazards (pests, mold, lead, noise, carbon monoxide, fire hazards)
This standard covers to building data generated by or reported to government agencies who inspect or monitor residential properties for occupant comfort, health and safety or building performance. Inspections and monitoring may concern building structure, function, habitability, safety, and environmental performance.
Open data for health and safety of residential buildings has potential to improve the quality of government regulation and improve proactive compliance by responsible parties. Public disclosure of House Facts data has consumer, governmental, research, and commercial applications for improving the health, safety, and environmental performance of buildings.
- Tenant,homebuyer, real estate agent, or lender access to property regulatory histories prior to purchase rent or purchase.
- Tenant advocate access to regulatory history of property or property owner
- Analysis of temporal or spatial patterns of regulatory violations by government agencies for more targeted regulatory response.
- Policy advocacy for improved housing conditions or greater resources for building or health code enforcement.
The House Facts open data standard has been adopted by cities of San Francisco, Vancouver, Wichita, and Dallas.
The data standard is collectively managed by individuals and organizations with expertise and experience in environmental regulation, open data, and housing habitability. The original version of the House Facts Data Standard was drafted in 2012 by Rajiv Bhatia. Changes to the standard are reviewed by Accela, Code for America, Civic Insight, the National Center for Healthy Housing and Socrata. Propose a revision or contribute to discussions on development of the standard through the house facts revisions discussion group.
0.2.3 15 July, 2014
- 0.1.0 11 December, 2012
- 0.2.0 26 March, 2013
- 0.2.1 18 April, 2013
- 0.2.2 25 March, 2014
House Facts is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.