Section 3 Mapping Application

This tool assists Section 3 funding recipients, subrecipients, contractors, and subcontractors in determining the service area or neighborhood of a HUD-funded Section 3 project.

The service area or neighborhood of a Section 3 project is defined in 24 CFR § 75.5 as:

an area within one mile of the Section 3 project or, if fewer than 5,000 people live within one mile of a Section 3 project, within a circle centered on the Section 3 project that is sufficient to encompass a population of 5,000 people according to the most recent U.S. Census.

The service area or neighborhood must be determined for a Section 3 project in order to designate the geographic area in which a Section 3 worker on that project may live in order to be certified as a Targeted Section 3 worker. See 24 CFR § 75.21:

(a) Targeted Section 3 worker. A Targeted Section 3 worker for housing and community development financial assistance means a Section 3 worker who is:

(1) A worker employed by a Section 3 business concern; or

(2) A worker who currently fits or when hired fit at least one of the following categories, as documented within the past five years:

(i) Living within the service area or the neighborhood of the project, as defined in § 75.5; or

(ii) A YouthBuild participant.

1. To begin using this tool, go to the desired geography by zooming on the map or by entering an address into the address box.

2. Select the blue “Site Address” box on the left side of the page and enter the full address of the Section 3 project site in the text box that appears on a single line as demonstrated in the examples below:

75 Ted Turner Dr SW, Atlanta, GA 30303

909 1st Ave, Seattle, WA 98104

Providing the full address with commas separating the street address, city, and state will help ensure that the tool maps to the correct location. If the project has multiple site addresses, you may use any or all of them in determining the neighborhood or service area of the project. Also, the tool does support copy and paste shortcuts, so an address can be pasted into the text box if desired.

3. After entering the site address, select the blue “Go” box to the right of the text box, and the tool will place a pin on the map at the location and draw a red circle of approximately one mile in radius around the project site address. NOTE: This circle is for illustration purposes only and should not be used to try to determine the neighborhood or service area. The tool will generate a report that will confirm if an employee address falls within the area or not.

4. Then select the blue “Employee Address” box on the left side of the page, enter the full address of the employee in the text box that appears, and select “Go” to the right of the text box. The tool will then place a second pin at the location of the employee’s address with a default zoom of 14. Depending on the distance between the pins, you may need to zoom out to view both pins on the map simultaneously.

5. After entering both addresses, select the blue “Calculate” box. A pop-up window will appear prompting you to enter an email address. Upon entering your preferred email, select the blue “Submit” button or press enter on your keyboard. The pop-up will then confirm the request and that you will receive an email with the details of the request in a few minutes.

6. The email will have the subject line “Section 3 Mapping Report” and will come from apps@huduser.gov. Please add apps@huduser.gov to your address book/allowed list to prevent spam blocking. The email will contain the distance from the employee address to the site address and a statement that the employee address either does or does not qualify as being in the neighborhood or service area for the project. The email will also include a PDF attachment with the results, a list of census tracts that comprise the neighborhood and service area, and a screenshot of the map.

Other Information:

• This process can be repeated as many times as necessary for all potential Targeted Section 3 workers
• Per the Section 3 regulations, the tool will automatically enlarge the radius if the initial 1-mile radius does not encompass at least 5,000 people and return results accordingly.
• The tool calculates population on the census tract level. This means that if the 1-mile radius (or larger radius as applicable) touches a census tract, the tool will include the entirety of each of those census tracts as the neighborhood or service area of the project. The tool will then determine if the employee address falls in any of those census tracts and generate the report accordingly.