The Department of Housing and Urban Development has announced the launch of a public database that includes information about some households under HUD's housing programs.

While available to the general public, HUD aims for the database to be a resource for researchers to study statistical relationships between demographic and geographic information.

The database will host information about households receiving certain forms of HUD assistance. The information ranges from family size, income and rent, to the number of bedrooms in a particular house.

The database will also list geographic location and the area's poverty rate based upon census data. None of the information will contain data that would be personally identifiable.

"This public database helps to provide a much clearer picture of how our programs work," said Raphael Bostic, HUD's assistant secretary for policy development and research, in a release. "Better information makes for better public policy. We're offering the research community and, by extension, the American public, a more transparent window into our programs and the people we serve."

Bostic joined In Depth with Francis Rose to discuss the new database and the agency's open gov efforts.