Data Sharing Agreement - University of Chicago

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Date: EXHIBIT A Center for Data Science & Public Policy THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO Overview Water shutoffs are expensive, both for the residents and government of South Bend, Indiana and have wide -reaching negative impacts. For residents, it causes them inconvenience, sometimes leads to removal of minors by Child Protective Services from homes without water service, and hurts credit ratings of individuals (often minors listed on the utility account by their parents). For the city government, shutoffs generate a great deal of work, ranging from responding to phone inquiries from residents to the process of physically shutting the water off and on (including travel time and technician labor). South Bend wants to explore what they can do to identify households at risk of not paying their water bills and understand what type of interventions, such as referring them to support programs, can help prevent water shutoffs and reduce financial and personals costs for both the government and the residents. Project Description This project will do exploratory analysis around water shutoffs to determine: 1. If the scale of the problem is sufficient to generate city policy or operational changes 2. Suggest possible interventions and 3. Scope a more operational project Recognizing that the most vulnerable residents are affected by a complex set of circumstances related to municipal services, this project will explore indicators of water shutoffs and future negative outcomes to the individuals having their water shut off. Aspects of this project might include: • Exploring the relationship between 311 calls, water shutoffs, and housing violations in the City of South Bend, with the intent of identifying possible interventions that minimize disruption of water and sewer services. • Analysis of narratives from 311 calls to see if calls to 311 precede or predict water shutoff. • Analysis of utility payments including information about entities that make payments on behalf of an account holder in the interest of assisting distressed customers, late payments, and shut offs caused by delinquency. • Analysis of consumption as determined by water meters, especially as it relates to vacancy in the service locations. • Analysis of the cost to the city to shut water off compared to • Analysis of the housing violations associated with locations where utility services have been interrupted. Data Sources • City Utility Data 6 Center for Data Science and Public Policy 2016