The Need
The United States is facing a housing crisis. Too many households are paying 30% or more of their income toward rent, or cannot find housing options that meet their needs. National, regional, and local market forces impact the availability of affordable housing and are beyond the control of individual agents to influence housing prices. Meanwhile, negative perceptions of the impacts of affordable housing persist.
However, local partners can work together to build understanding of the importance of housing options to meet the needs of all residents, leverage financing and funding opportunities, and increase regulatory flexibility to expand affordable housing opportunities.
How to Address the Need
Local governments and affordable housing developers can leverage short- or long-term subsidies to build or acquire and rehab properties to create new affordable housing opportunities for people who need them.
Zoning tools can also expand the types of housing that can or should be built.
To counter the negative public perceptions of affordable housing, it is important to be able to talk about what “it” is and who it serves.
We can help you identify housing needs, develop plans to establish financing, funding, and zoning tools most appropriate for your community, and assist you to create and implement the programs and projects you choose. We also have significant experience creating communication tools, talking with residents, and developing key messaging strategies to build community support.
