Salisbury University teaming up with city to undertake housing survey

SALISBURY, Md. – Researchers at Salisbury University (SU) are getting ready to team up with the city for a housing survey.

Gearing Up to Team Up

SU interns working at the Eastern Shore Regional GIS Cooperative (ESRGC) will hit the streets, surveying every home in Salisbury. Project Manager Mary Buffington says the interns will collect about 9,000 data points, with 27 variables.

“We’re assessing the overall condition of the house. So, that’s from the roof to the foundation,” said Buffington. “It can be anything from a damaged roof, or proper access for emergency vehicles to reach a house, addresses being printed on the house.”

Gaining Insight, Gathering Knowledge

Gathering this kind of data will help the city better prepare for scenarios ranging from emergency response to flooding, says Buffington.

“We’re helping with not only building conditions, but also with other information that can be used by emergency services, as well,” said Buffington. “Foundation height can be used for flood models, and we could assess what types of flood damage could be impacted by different flood scenarios. That’s just incredibly powerful.”

In addition to tackling pressing housing needs in the city, Buffington says the SU interns will gain valuable knowledge.

“It’s providing them hands-on GIS experience before they enter the workforce. And, it provides us the opportunity to partner with the city on such an important project like this,” said Buffington. “The other benefit of using SU interns for this is they’re all trained in the field for how to assess these risk variables.”

Looking Ahead

The project is listed under the city’s Capital Improvement Plan for Fiscal Years 2024-28. The proposal is on page 36 of the city’s February 21st City Council work session agenda.

This newest iteration of the study is not be the first time the city will team up with SU to do so. Buffington says new data, plus old data, will help the city make progress on the front of safe, accessible housing.

“We have studied over 35 individual housing studies across the Eastern Shore. This will be the second time we’re assessing the city of Salisbury,” said Buffington. “So, we can make data-informed decisions about where you may want to resource resources or projects in the city.”