Case studies

Four case studies, from a town’s rental permits to a federal housing report

Each case names the question a client asked, what its records showed and what the work opens up. A client’s name appears only where the client has agreed, and a town’s own figures never sit beside its name.

ArtifexAI × A coastal Massachusetts townWhy the state counted about 1,500 rentals and the town about 1,000A town subscriptionThe case study The state’s rental list on the left and the town’s permits on the right; each line joins one registration to the permit for the same home, and a registration with no line is one for the town’s inspector to check. ArtifexAI × New York State Department of Public ServiceOther states’ utility filings, turned into comparisons the department can checkA direct contract, Phase 1 deliveredThe case study One dot for every hundred filings the department can search, drawn as New York State. ArtifexAI × U.S. Department of Defense, through Alvarez & MarsalOne model of an island’s military housing, in place of studies that disagreedTechnical partner to the firm that held the contract, Phase 1 deliveredThe case study One dot for every hundred military housing units set into the one model of the island, gathered into the shape of Oahu. ArtifexAI × A national nonprofitThree large cities, from their council recordings and foundation filingsA paid engagement, deliveredThe case study Three grids, one for each city; each square is one council meeting the nonprofit can now search.

Research

One town’s 2021 records, tested against the demolitions of 2022 to 2024

The study scored a ranking, built only from one coastal Massachusetts town’s records as they stood at the end of 2021, against the homes demolished in the three years after; the study says where the ranking did well and where it did no better than a rule of thumb.

The full study

Homes demolished from 2022 to 2024, by their place in the 2021 ranking; the tallest bar is the top tenth.

Start with the question a resident asked at a hearing.

A resident at a public hearing asked why two rental lists disagreed, and the first case runs from that question to the check the town now runs every day; the state and federal cases follow it.

The rentals caseHow it works