Housing challenges in Chatham County are complex – and often difficult to see clearly.

Across the county, nonprofits, government agencies, and housing providers work every day to help residents find stable housing. But until recently, each organization held different pieces of the story. Without a shared view of the data, it was difficult to identify patterns, understand gaps in services, or coordinate solutions across the system.

The Chatham Housing Collective Data Dashboard is helping change that. Developed through the Chatham Housing Collective (CHC) and led by United Way of Chatham County, the dashboard brings together housing-related data from multiple partners into a single, accessible tool. By combining information from programs across the county, the dashboard creates a clearer picture of housing needs, service usage, and emerging trends.

The goal is to move from isolated efforts to something more powerful: a coordinated, community-wide response to housing instability. Facilitated by United Way of Chatham County, the Chatham Housing Collective brings together nonprofits, county agencies, and other partners to coordinate services, share data, and help more residents move from instability to stability. The dashboard is how Chatham is turning a clearer picture into smarter action.

From Collaboration to Shared Data

The dashboard grew out of years of collaboration among housing partners in Chatham County.

In 2022, United Way of Chatham County convened organizations across the county to address the growing impacts of housing instability and low housing affordability. That effort led to the formation of the Chatham Housing Collective, a cross-sector partnership focused on improving coordination, sharing resources, and aligning services for residents experiencing housing challenges.

As the Chatham Housing Collective began working together, one challenge became clear: while partners were doing important work, they lacked a shared way to understand the full scope of housing needs in the community.

At the same time, Chatham County adopted its 2023 Affordable Housing Plan, which called for stronger coordination across agencies and better data systems to track progress and inform decision-making. The plan’s vision was explicit: partners needed not just individual programs working in parallel, but a shared framework for collaboration.

“When Minnesota Housing Partnership worked with Chatham County Government to develop the updated Affordable Housing Strategic Plan, one of the strongest themes that emerged was the need for stronger coordination, shared data, and consistent communication across partners,” said Erika Brown of Minnesota Housing Partnership. “The dashboard wasn’t just a standalone product – it became a real-world example of the Action Plan coming to life.”

The dashboard emerged as a natural solution – an effort to bring together the many pieces of housing-related data into one shared view.

Building the Dashboard

Creating the dashboard required both technical expertise and strong community collaboration.

United Way engaged Rios Partners, a consulting firm specializing in data systems and organizational strategy, to design and build the tool. The dashboard’s content and focus were shaped by Chatham Housing Collective partners – Rios provided the technical expertise to bring it to life.

“Working with the Chatham Housing Collective to craft a story grounded in current data while maintaining a compassionate, human-centered narrative of housing and homelessness exemplified the strengths of human-centered design,” said Jimmy Hattier of Rios Partners. “This project proves that small nonprofits like UWCC have an outsized impact on their communities – all they need is the support to effectively share it with the world.”

Funding support from Minnesota Housing Partnership helped make the project possible.

 “As a funder and Chatham Housing Collective partner, we saw the dashboard as an important piece of understanding housing insecurity for Chatham County,” said Erica Cormack of Minnesota Housing Partnership. “Systems change requires shared visibility. The dashboard creates a coordinated source of information, strengthens accountability, and helps partners align around real-time data rather than assumptions.”

Turning Data into Insight

Today, the dashboard helps partners across Chatham County better understand how residents move through the housing system, and where gaps remain.

For Chatham County’s housing team, the dashboard fills a need that has been years in the making.

“Prior to the data dashboard, much of our practice would rely on much larger, more zoomed-out data – regional or statewide estimates about needs in the community,” said Jamie Andrews, Chatham County Housing Officer, who works on affordable housing development and preservation for Chatham County. “The pictures we had were far less local and far less specialized than were typically helpful.”

The dashboard changed that by grounding the data in the day-to-day reality of local partners.

“Having a dashboard that is based on people doing the work on the ground on a day-to-day basis means that we have a more consistently accurate picture,” Jamie said. “The data collected through the dashboard shows us where needs are in our community and helps us and our partners consider where we can have the greatest positive impact. As people who work in and around housing challenges, we have a sense for the kinds of needs Chatham residents experience – but the data helps us build more specific and realistic understandings of how to serve this community.”

That specificity matters when making the case for resources. Intuition only goes so far, and the dashboard gives partners the evidence to back it up.

“We know there are people not served by the housing market as it stands,” Jamie said. “This data lets us demonstrate that – see who is not getting what they need from what we have available, and what we need to work on to ensure safe and dignified housing across the county.”

For community partners working directly with residents, the data helps bring hidden challenges into view. Dakota Philbrick, Executive Director of Love Chatham, describes how the dashboard changes conversations about housing in a rural community where need is often invisible.

“Having grown up in Chatham County, I realize that the common perception is that we don’t have community members who experience homelessness, food insecurity, or transportation barriers,” he said. “With the rural nature of our county, these are often hidden problems that only surface when we start gathering data and using facts to drive better outcomes. One of the best ways to advocate for resources is to qualify and quantify the problem.”

Other partners share that perspective. Lee Staton, Executive Director at the Chatham Housing Authority, describes how the complexity of Housing Choice Voucher programs makes real-time, shared data essential to doing the work well.

“No single agency can effectively address the housing, economic, and social challenges faced by voucher participants without coordinated collaboration across sectors,” Lee said. “In this day and time, conversations and collaborations are foundational.”

Building a Culture of Data

Partners began strengthening their data collection processes nearly a year before the dashboard launched, ensuring that what would be shared was reliable, consistent, and meaningful. The result is a resource that reflects real community conditions — not just program outputs.

That data is already shaping decisions. For county housing staff like Jamie, the dashboard is informing long-range planning – identifying where services are offered inadequately or not at all, and building the case for where new investment is needed.

For the Chatham Housing Authority, it supports the day-to-day management of complex federal programs, where accurate, up-to-date data is essential to forecasting, compliance, and serving voucher participants effectively. And for the broader network of Chatham Housing Collective partners, it means organizations can focus their energy where the need is greatest – rather than duplicating effort or working from outdated assumptions.

When data is shared openly and consistently, it also changes relationships. Funders can see where gaps exist. Government agencies can justify budget requests. Community partners can walk into advocacy conversations with evidence rather than intuition. The dashboard makes all of that possible.

That potential has drawn the attention of regional partners. Triangle Community Foundation, which has identified housing affordability as a key issue across the region, awarded United Way of Chatham County a grant in 2025 to support the Chatham Housing Collective’s work – reflecting the Foundation’s commitment to deploying resources where coordinated, data-driven approaches are already taking root.

“The centralization of data and a common commitment to a mission among the Chatham Housing Collective have helped reduce ‘siloing’ among participating organizations – a necessity given the scale and complexity of an issue like housing,” said Zach Ward, Senior Program Officer at Triangle Community Foundation, which has supported the CHC’s work and regularly attends Chatham Housing Collective meetings. “The data from the Chatham Housing Collective is critical because it provides a unified, evidence-based understanding of the housing needs of the county, allowing for more informed policies, more effective coordination, and a clearer picture of housing needs.”

Regional Momentum

The dashboard’s launch has drawn attention within and well beyond Chatham County. United Way of Chatham County and Chatham Housing Collective partners have presented the dashboard to the Chatham County Board of Commissioners, alongside representatives from the County’s Housing Department – putting shared data directly in front of the policymakers who shape housing investments and priorities.

The dashboard was also featured during a regional bus tour hosted by Triangle Community Foundation, giving elected officials, funders, and community leaders a firsthand look at how the Chatham Housing Collective is using data to coordinate services and tell the county’s housing story.

At the state level, United Way of Chatham County’s Impact Manager Daisy Butzer showcased the dashboard at the United Way of North Carolina conference – positioning the Chatham Housing Collective’s collaborative, data-driven model as one other communities can learn from and replicate. Daisy will also be co-presenting with United Way Worldwide at the United Way Southeast Regional Conference in Charleston mid-April, extending Chatham’s model to a broader audience.

In April, Chatham County Government and Our State Our Homes will host How Housing Happens, a community event bringing together housing stakeholders – service providers, developers, county leaders, and residents – to explore what it actually takes to create housing in Chatham County. The event will offer an accessible look at how housing gets built, comparing and contrasting the experiences of market-rate and nonprofit developers, and exploring where community and local government can have real opportunities to impact affordability.

“Data demonstrates that we need more housing, so the question becomes how we get more of the housing we need,” said Jamie Andrews. “I hope this event provides an opportunity for interested community members and leaders to learn more – and explore where we as a community can have real opportunities to impact affordability.”

A community Data Walk with the County, United Way and Our State Our Homes is Monday, March 23, from 4-6 p.m. at Freedom Family Church in Siler City. The Data Walk creates another opportunity for partners and residents to explore the dashboard’s findings together and identify shared strategies for action and meet housing service providers.

A Model for Collective Impact

Ultimately, the CHC Data Dashboard reflects a broader approach to solving complex community challenges – one built on trust, shared information, and a willingness to coordinate across sectors.

For the County, that coordination is what makes smart, long-range decision-making possible.

“I’m so glad that United Way could use its capacity for coordination to lead the formation of the CHC Data Dashboard,” said Daisy Butzer, Impact Manager at United Way. “We have invested our energy into its construction and now into maintaining it, but it’s our unique role as both a funder and nonprofit organization that makes that possible.

“My hope now is that we can use it to empower our community to act meaningfully and efficiently to ensure that our neighbors have access to safe, stable housing, both now and in the future.”

For the Chatham Housing Collective as a whole, the dashboard is also a reflection of what the partnership has built over time.

“The Chatham Housing Collective, through United Way’s leadership, ensures that we have a clear picture of what is going on in Chatham and where more effort may be needed – which allows us to make smart choices for future efforts,” Jamie said. “This allows us to coordinate our efforts, ensure that partners can focus on what they’re good at, and support each other in maximizing impacts.”

Community partners echo that sentiment. For Dakota, the dashboard’s deeper value is what it represents about Chatham’s culture of collaboration.

“United Way has been a tremendous backbone for collaboration and without their expertise in promoting collaboration throughout the community we likely wouldn’t be where we are today,” said Dakota. “On numerous occasions we’ve heard from surrounding communities that they only wish they were collaborating like we are. Collaboration is key – and for us, as service providers, that’s also the thing that keeps us going.”

The dashboard does not solve housing challenges on its own. But it provides something essential: a shared understanding of the problem – and a stronger foundation for working together to address it.