Best Practices

Check out ideas for implementation and engagement strategies that you can include in your community's housing plan.

When putting together a housing plan, it can help to learn about what other communities have done. To get you started, this page contains a searchable collection of best practices for housing plan development from across the United States. You can sort the practices according to your target audience, the specific challenge you're facing, and more. Explore the collection and contact us if you want to learn more about how to bring one of these best practices to your community.

Featured Best Practice

• Prioritize Stabilization, Preservation, and Rehab of Affordable Housing
  Local jurisdictions can prioritize stabilization, preservation, and rehab of affordable housing options in their zoning ordinances. While maintenance may be expensive, it is usually less expensive than creating a new development, and ensure…

28 Best Practices

• Allow Smaller Lot Sizes, Smaller, Accessory Units, and Reasonable Minimum Square Footage
  Local jurisdictions and administrators can ensure that their zoning ordinances allow smaller lot sizes; clarify the rules for the development of smaller, accessory units; and allow a reasonable minimum square footage. These zoning approache…
• Collaborate on Interjurisdictional Plans
  Instead of working alone, multiple local governments can collaborate on interjurisdictional plans that better address regional housing issues. This is because housing markets operate regionally and the best solutions are likely to be found …
• Concentrated Service Delivery Where Many Residents Live
  Housing partners can come together to create opportunities for concentrated service delivery where many residents live, such as in Purpose Built Communities. This streamlines services and can improve the stability of residents.
• Consider Using Existing Assets
  Local governments can encourage developers to consider using existing assets such as public buildings, public lands, unfinished development projects, and brownfields, as well as excess land from schools, hospitals, universities, and other p…
• Create Flexible Local Funds for Housing
  Local jurisdictions can create flexible local funds for housing: short-term acquisition loans, refinancing, rehabilitation loans, or low interest loans for tenants who have first right of purchase. Funds can also be used to incentivize deve…
• Developer Subsidies
  Developer subsidies can incentivize the creation of new affordable units through tax credits, grants, expedited approvals, or specific zoning/fee exemptions. This decreases the costs of (re)development and construction, which usually result…
• Ease Affordable Housing Development Regulations
  Local jurisdictions can ease affordable housing development regulations with by-right access and expedited review following a rules-based assessment process. This is intended to speed up construction and increase the housing supply; thus, s…
• Encourage Senior Residents to Participate In a Home-sharing Program
  Local governments and nonprofit service organizations can encourage senior residents to participate in a home-sharing program that matches them with individuals who need a place to rent. This utilizes existing housing infrastructure while a…
• Ensure That Existing Affordable Housing Stock Is Maintained
  Local jurisdictions need to use advocacy, zoning policy, and creative funding streams to ensure that existing affordable housing stock is maintained, whether these units are naturally-occurring or subsidized. Many voucher and subsidy progra…
• Ensure that their ordinances allow the types of housing that are needed
  Local jurisdictions and planning commissions can ensure that their ordinances allow the types of housing that are needed. These adjustments could be to increase allowed densities, decrease parking requirements, and ensure access to transit;…
• Establish a Revolving Loan Fund
  State and local governments can establish a revolving loan fund to provide down payment assistance to new and/or low-income homebuyers. Starting capital is often provided by state and federal governments, and the funds can be managed by the…
• Explicitly Allow 'Missing Middle' Housing Types
  Local jurisdictions can increase diversity of housing options by using their zoning ordinances to explicitly allow 'missing middle' housing types - such as the duplex, triplex, fourplex, courtyard apartment, bungalow court, townhouse, multi…
• Form a Committee or Working Group
  Local housing stakeholders should form a committee or working group to set goals, develop and monitor projects. This ensures that the right people have input, that goals are aligned, and that potential collaborators have space to share idea…
• Housing First Policy
  A Housing First policy recognizes housing as the necessary first intervention for individuals experiencing homelessness - before any other assistance - because housing provides an individual the stability needed to receive additional servic…
• Housing Trust Fund or Real Estate Investment Trust
  Local jurisdictions can create a housing trust fund or real estate investment trust with funds from nonprofit organizations, community foundations, and local governments. These trusts provide alternative funding streams to be used in suppor…
• Implement a Sweat Equity Program for Homeowners
  Local governments can implement a sweat equity program for homeowners, or partner with local organizations to expand homeowner investments in maintenance. In addition to lowering construction costs, local programs can also be designed so th…
• Implement Local Licensing Requirements for Landlords
  Local jurisdictions and their planning departments can implement local licensing requirements for landlords. Such a program can be difficult to implement and even harder to monitor, but the fees for such a program can be used to fund enforc…
• Incentivize Density and Reuse in Target Areas Such as Downtown Districts
  Local jurisdictions can incentivize density and reuse in target areas such as downtown districts. This focuses (re)development where it's most beneficial and most needed. It also maintains and increases the local housing supply.
• Land Banks and Local Property Acquisition Funds
  Land banks and local property acquisition funds can be used to lower costs of site control for developers, giving them more flexible funds, lower land cost, incentive to invest, and longer time spans for projects. Land banks have specific f…
• Limited Equity Housing Opportunities and Cooperative Ownership Structures
  Limited equity housing opportunities and cooperative ownership structures such as tenant unions, help collectively preserve the long-term affordability of a group of units. Existing affordable housing can be converted to cooperatives when p…
• Money Follows the Person
  The Money Follows the Person program (or any local Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly, PACE) brings services and resources (home repair, transportation, home care) to Medicaid-eligible people in rural areas. This allows elders to…
• Offer Financial Coaching and Education
  Nonprofit and economic development organizations may offer financial coaching and education for homeowners and renters, to inform homeowners and renters of their rights and responsibilities. Prevents displacement through planning, budgeting…
• Permitting and Fee Structures
  Local jurisdictions' development permitting and fee structures can be used to generate local funds to help improve and maintain existing housing. The funds generated can also be used for the creation of new affordable housing units.
• Protect Residents from Eviction
  State and local policies can protect residents from eviction, such as those that give existing tenants the right of first purchase, or those that create proactive stabilization funds that can protect homeowners from eviction. These policies…
• Provide Technical Assistance, and Education and Marketing to Developers
  Local governments can provide technical assistance and other forms of education and marketing to developers, in order to decrease the perceived risk and to showcase the incentives available for developing in rural areas. This can increase t…
• Targeted Actions to Address Abandoned Property, Vacancy, and Demolition
  Rural jurisdictions must balance the development of new housing infrastructure with targeted actions to address abandoned property, vacancy, and demolition. In addition to controlling blight, this practice also ensures that the local jurisd…
• USDA Rural Homeowner Assistance Program
  The USDA rural homeowner assistance program provides financial assistance for ownership, renovation, repairs, preservation, and technical assistance; direct loans are also provided under Section 502; and rental assistance can be provided fo…
• USDA Section 538 Guaranteed Rural Rental Housing program
  USDA Section 538 Guaranteed Rural Rental Housing program provides funding for new construction, rehab, and acquisition of multifamily rental housing, as well as buying land, infrastructure, hard and soft loan costs. Average rent must be no …