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Evaluating Housing Policies and Programs

Determining the right policies and programs to prioritize involves an iterative process of evaluating a policy or program’s alignment with your community’s housing goals, feasibility to implement and potential impact relative to the resources required to implement it.

The following worksheet offers a set of criteria and guiding questions to evaluate potential land use, subsidy, and tenants’ rights policies and programs.

Housing Policy Evaluation: Implementation Needs - PDF


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    • Land Use Policy & Regulation

    Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs)

    Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) are secondary units on single-family property lots, independent from the primary home.

    • Accommodate Growth
    • Expand Access to Homeownership
    • Increase Access to Opportunity
    • Increase Affordable Housing
    • Prevent Displacement
    • Land Use Policy & Regulation

    Administrative Approval for By Right-Development

    Administrative approval for by-right development allows local governments to approve projects meeting underlying local zoning requirements through administrative rather than discretionary approval.

    • Accommodate Growth
    • Increase Access to Opportunity
    • Subsidy

    Appraisal Gap Financing

    Appraisal gap financing can be used to bridge the difference between the appraised value of a property and the purchase price or cost of rehabilitation.

    • Accommodate Growth
    • Expand Access to Homeownership
    • Improve Housing Quality
    • Reduce Racial Disparity
    • Land Use Policy & Regulation

    Building Code Reform

    Code reform lowers the cost of new housing by allowing for new construction methods and decreasing housing costs.

    • Accommodate Growth
    • Improve Housing Quality
    • Increase Affordable Housing
    • Land Use Policy & Regulation

    Extended Growth Boundaries

    Urban growth boundaries (UGBs) are geographic limits on development around a jurisdiction, determining where building is permitted and public infrastructure such as utilities, schools, and roads are provided.

    • Accommodate Growth
    • Land Use Policy & Regulation
    • Subsidy

    Hotel Conversion to Supportive Housing

    Hotel acquisition and conversion into single-room occupancy (SRO) residences can be used to provide rapid rehousing for households experiencing homelessness, typically as a transitional solution as households search for and acquire new housing.

    • Accommodate Growth
    • Increase Affordable Housing
    • Land Use Policy & Regulation

    Housing Rehabilitation Codes

    Lowering the building code requirements that property owners rehabilitating or renovating older single-family and multi-family properties need to meet (other than necessary safety improvements), can encourage rehabilitation and preservation of housin...

    • Accommodate Growth
    • Expand Access to Homeownership
    • Improve Housing Quality
    • Increase Affordable Housing
    • Prevent Displacement
    • Land Use Policy & Regulation
    • Subsidy

    Joint Development

    Joint development occurs when state or local agencies such as public transit agencies, schools, and parking authorities make public land available to housing authorities and/or private developers.

    • Accommodate Growth
    • Increase Access to Opportunity
    • Increase Affordable Housing
    • Subsidy

    Land Bank

    Land banks, typically run by local governments or nonprofits, acquire, hold, manage, and redevelop property.

    • Accommodate Growth
    • Expand Access to Homeownership
    • Improve Housing Quality
    • Increase Access to Opportunity
    • Increase Affordable Housing
    • Prevent Displacement
    • Reduce Racial Disparity
    • Land Use Policy & Regulation

    Land Value Taxation

    Land value taxation is the practice of levying property taxes only on the value of the underlying land, excluding the value of any development on the site.

    • Accommodate Growth
    • Improve Housing Quality
    • Land Use Policy & Regulation

    Multifamily By-Right

    Multifamily by-right zoning is a land use tool by which multifamily development is allowed "by right" or without a special use permit or rezoning, particularly in areas of high opportunity.

    • Accommodate Growth
    • Increase Access to Opportunity
    • Land Use Policy & Regulation

    Office and Retail Conversions

    Office and retail space converted into housing can help to better utilize existing space and create much needed housing opportunities.

    • Accommodate Growth
    • Increase Access to Opportunity
    • Increase Affordable Housing
    • Subsidy

    Qualified Allocation Plan Reform

    State housing finance agencies (HFAs) create Qualified Allocation Plans (QAP) to set out criteria and requirements that determine which developments receive Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC).

    • Accommodate Growth
    • Improve Housing Quality
    • Increase Access to Opportunity
    • Increase Affordable Housing
    • Reduce Racial Disparity
    • Subsidy

    Reduced or Deferred Fees​

    Reducing or deferring development fees can encourage the development of qualifying projects, such as those that include affordable housing units or those in high-opportunity areas, by helping to reduce the costs per unit.

    • Accommodate Growth
    • Increase Affordable Housing
    • Land Use Policy & Regulation

    Short-Term Rental Regulations

    Short-term rentals, typically rentals of residential units for a period of time less than a month, can bring in tourism income to a community but can also restrict the supply of housing available to permanent residents.

    • Accommodate Growth
    • Subsidy

    Small Landlord Fund

    A Small Landlord Fund, offered at the city, county, or state level in certain places, offers funding to landlords with a small number of units for preservation, repair, or conversion to affordable units.

    • Accommodate Growth
    • Improve Housing Quality
    • Increase Affordable Housing
    • Prevent Displacement
    • Subsidy

    Small-Scale Development (Infill) Financing

    Small-scale development financing is financial support for the development or substantial rehabilitation of smaller affordable rental properties.

    • Accommodate Growth
    • Increase Access to Opportunity
    • Increase Affordable Housing
    • Land Use Policy & Regulation

    Soft Density or "Missing Middle" By-Right

    Soft density by-right zoning is a land use tool that increases the types of housing permitted in single-family districts to include townhomes, duplexes, triplexes, quads, and accessory dwelling units.

    • Accommodate Growth
    • Expand Access to Homeownership
    • Increase Access to Opportunity
    • Land Use Policy & Regulation

    Standardized Development Agreement Strategy​

    Development agreements are legal agreements between developers and jurisdictions (sometimes community advocates are also involved) that provide development flexibility not typically achievable through zoning ordinances.

    • Accommodate Growth
    • Expand Access to Homeownership
    • Increase Affordable Housing
    • Prevent Displacement
    • Land Use Policy & Regulation

    Transit Oriented Development (TOD)

    Transit-oriented development prioritizes the development of housing near public transportation systems, with the goal of improving community access to employment, recreation, retail, and more.

    • Accommodate Growth
    • Increase Access to Opportunity