Case Study: Q Foundation achieves real-time, equitable housing relief during COVID-19 with Looker

Solving for new challenges to the housing crisis caused by COVID-19 with data

Q Foundation is a San Francisco nonprofit that provides online emergency rent assistance and technology solutions to prevent homelessness. When COVID-19 hit just as they rolled out Looker in March 2020, demand exploded—over 10,000 applications—and the organization needed better data to show impact, inform policymakers, and prioritize scarce resources across an already overburdened system.

Working with Beezwax and Looker, Q Foundation built the EVO application and a Looker dashboard in nine days to deliver real‑time visualizations and actionable insights. The platform improved targeting and equity analysis (including fine‑grained racial/ethnic data), revealed process failures (e.g., many applicants hadn’t notified landlords), highlighted industry‑level impacts (hospitality hardest hit), enabled automated outreach and policy feedback, and helped funders and city leaders allocate aid more effectively.

Q Foundation