Sarcouncil Journal of Engineering and Computer Sciences

Abstract: Spatial inequities in housing in the United States naturally involve space, but in the traditional housing policy studies, the concept of geography in determining access, affordability, and opportunity is overlooked. The research is a scoping review of the GIS-based approaches used in the housing policy research to justify fair urban development, including the works published between 1995 and 2025. We map the methodological landscape of prevailing GIS techniques, data ecosystems, spatial scales, and conceptualizations of equity using 30 peer-reviewed studies, books, and selected grey literature based on PRISMA-ScR. The results indicate that GIS is used in a continuum, with one end having diagnostic tools, which can be used to map the differences in housing and infrastructure, and the other end as evaluative tools, which may measure policy effects, and the other decision-support that can be used to guide zoning, affordable housing location, and infrastructure planning. The operationalization of equity is based on distributive, procedural, and recognitional scales, although methodological challenges such as magnitude incompatibilities, stagnant variables, bias of data, and the inadequate use of lived experience remain. The major approaches are spatial accessibility modeling, hotspot and cluster analysis, multi-criteria decision analysis, network-based walkability analysis, and participatory GIS, which are based on data from the Census, administrative records, remote sensing, and new real-time GIS platforms. The review highlights the potential of mixed-method GIS, longitudinal and dynamic spatial data, and ethically grounded approaches to translate spatial evidence into actionable housing policy. By situating GIS within broader equity and policy frameworks, this study provides a roadmap for integrating spatial analytics into justice-oriented urban development, demonstrating how GIS can move beyond mapping inequity to inform transformative housing policy in U.S. cities.