2.3 Selecting Policies

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How Should Localities Select Housing Policies for Inclusion in a Strategy?

To meet their housing policy objectives, most localities will need a range of different housing policies. The need for a multi-pronged strategy is driven both by the complexity of the housing market and the fact that most localities have multiple housing policy objectives. For example, a locality may wish to simultaneously achieve all these policy objectives:

Prevent and reduce homelessness
Expand housing affordability for low- and moderate-income renters
Increase homeownership opportunities for first-time buyers
Prevent evictions and foreclosures to improve residential stability
Prevent the displacement of long-time residents in neighborhoods with rapidly rising rents
Facilitate aging in place by older adults

A key first step in selecting housing policies for a housing strategy is to identify and prioritize the housing policy objectives that the locality seeks to achieve. This section begins by providing some guidance on how to do this.

The second part of this section introduces the Local Housing Solutions Policy Framework, which provides a conceptual framework to help localities understand the full array of local housing policy options and facilitates the development of strategies that are comprehensive and balanced, two important attributes of an effective local housing strategy.

How can localities identify and prioritize their housing policy objectives?

Identifying and prioritizing the locality’s housing policy objectives at the outset of the strategy development process is important. This will serve as a touchstone for the development of the strategy. While many localities will share similar objectives, they may assign them different priorities or articulate them in a different way. For example, while most communities will likely want to increase rental affordability, some communities may wish to call out and prioritize the preservation of existing affordable rental housing as a separate objective that merits policy focus. As another example, some communities may wish to prioritize helping low-income families access affordable rental housing in areas with good schools and other resources associated with economic mobility. In its Policy Objectives section, Local Housing Solutions outlines how localities that wish to prioritize those objectives can use the housing policy tools included on the site to do so. The following is a list of the housing policy objectives discussed on the Local Housing Solutions website, along with links to the briefs that discuss which approaches and policies can be used to advance each one. Take a look at the list and consider which of these objectives you would prioritize for your community. Then, follow the links to peruse an article or two to get a sense of how they are structured. When you’re ready to continue, scroll past the objectives and onto the section on comprehensiveness and balance.

Affordability, homelessness, and special populations

Homeownership

Stability, quality, and safety

Inclusion

Community development

Energy and transportation

Health and education

The Importance of Comprehensiveness and Balance

It’s important for a local housing strategy to include policies that address its housing challenges and advance its housing policy objectives, but it must also be comprehensive and balanced. We discuss those terms and how to achieve them in this section. To begin, click on each of the questions below to learn about comprehensiveness and balance.

What makes a local housing strategy comprehensive?

Because the housing challenges most jurisdictions face are multifaceted, they benefit from being addressed through multiple approaches and tools. A comprehensive local housing strategy combines different types of tools (e.g., subsidies, tax incentives, zoning incentives, and permitting reforms) that fall within the jurisdiction of various agencies (e.g., local housing department, public housing authority, local tax authority, planning department, and zoning commission).

What makes a local housing strategy balanced?

A balanced local housing strategy addresses different dimensions of housing policy to meet the full range of a jurisdiction’s needs. For example, it both:

Creates and preserves dedicated affordable housing AND increases the overall supply
Helps residents rent AND own homes
Expands resources in low-income areas AND develops affordable housing in resource-rich areas
Protects residents from displacement WHILE accommodating growth

Comprehensive housing strategies help localities achieve their policy objectives and numerical goals by tapping the full toolkit of available policy options. Balanced housing strategies help broaden the base of political support for a housing strategy by addressing a wide range of needs that appeal to multiple constituencies. Additional constituencies can be engaged to support a plan by addressing the intersections between housing policy and other social policy domains, such as health, education, the environment, and transportation. This Comprehensiveness and Balance – Key Attributes of a Local Housing Strategy brief provides more information on the benefits of comprehensive and balanced housing strategies. To simplify the identification of promising policies for a strong local housing strategy, the Policy Framework categorizes numerous local policies in the Housing Policy Library into four functional areas, also referred to as pillars. The local housing policies included in the library can be used to advance a wide range of policy objectives (i.e., high-level desired results of housing-related activities), such as increasing the affordability of rental housing or expanding affordable housing in resource-rich areas. Policy objectives are useful to describe what a locality hopes to achieve with its local housing strategy.

Four Pillars of a Comprehensive, Balanced Local Housing Strategy

The Policy Framework can help localities identify specific policies to achieve their policy objectives and develop comprehensive and balanced housing strategies. Watch this brief video about the four pillars of our housing strategy. The video also provides guidance on how to navigate the Local Housing Solutions website and use the Housing Strategy Review Tool, which can help you zero in on policies to consider in your locality.

Watch this video about the LHS Policy Framework

This graphic illustrates the four main pillars of the housing strategy. Click on any of the pillars, or the box on complementary policies, for an overview of what it covers.

The Local Housing Solutions team recommends that, at a minimum, each locality’s housing strategy include at least one policy corresponding to each of these four pillars. Larger cities should consider including at least one policy corresponding to each of the subcategories within each pillar, which correspond to the key functions served by different groups of policies within the pillar.

For example, within the first pillar, Create and preserve dedicated affordable housing units, there are seven sub-categories, including “generating revenue for affordable housing,” “supporting affordable housing through subsidies,” and “preserving existing affordable housing.”

Part 3 of this training discusses each of the Policy Framework pillars in more detail, followed by a section on complementary policies where housing and other social policies intersect/overlap.

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2.3 Selecting Policies

How Should Localities Select Housing Policies for Inclusion in a Strategy?