Evidence Matters: Fall 2016

Abstract

This issue of Evidence Matters discusses digital inequality and efforts to promote digital inclusion, especially as they relate to housing and community development. In recent years, substantial public and private investment in broadband infrastructure has largely closed gaps in the availability of high-speed Internet among U.S. households, although divides in infrastructure still exist between urban and rural areas. The most significant divides are in adoption — primarily because of a lack of affordability, inadequate connection speed and quality, and inequalities in digital literacy. Gaps in Internet use by age, race, educational attainment, and income persist, although they are shrinking. Analysis of American Community Survey and HUD administrative data reveals that HUD-assisted renters are particularly likely to be on the wrong side of digital divides. HUD-assisted households are less likely to have in-home Internet access than unassisted renters (43% and 69%, respectively), and HUD-assisted households in public housing and multifamily housing have lower connection rates than HUD-assisted households as a whole. These divides continue even as the Internet becomes increasingly necessary for an expansive range of tasks, from completing homework to applying for a job. The costs of these disadvantages are borne by individuals and families in the form of lost educational and employment opportunities and limited access to information as well as by society in the form of unrealized economic productivity.