About Us
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HousingPolicy.org is an online guide to state and local housing policy developed and maintained by the
Center for Housing Policy, the research affiliate of the
National Housing Conference. The purpose of HousingPolicy.org is to collect and provide examples of proven solutions for expanding the availability of homes for working families and others in your community. The site includes easily accessible information on a broad range of state and local policy tools, as well as guidance on how to put them together to form a comprehensive and effective housing strategy. While geared to state and local decision-makers, HousingPolicy.org is written and designed for use by visitors of all backgrounds and experience levels - from those completely new to housing policy to veteran practitioners.
Photo courtesy of Potterhill Homes.
| We do not view HousingPolicy.org as the definitive word on state and local housing policy, but rather as a framework for organizing the knowledge and experience of policymakers and practitioners from around the country. To help ensure that this site provides comprehensive, timely, and accurate information, we encourage you to share the wealth of experience that you have accumulated over the years.
If you know of promising policies that we have missed or if you think we got anything wrong, please tell us! We also invite you to submit examples or images of successful housing developments in your community. Please note that all of the photos used on the site are of real people and affordable homes, and were supplied by developers, communities, and other housing-related organizations.
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To ensure that you get the most out of your visit, please take a moment to review our brief guide to the site.
Go to the How to Use This Site Guide >>Why focus on working families?HousingPolicy.org is focused principally on solutions that help working families - teachers, nurses, fire fighters, and other essential workers - afford the cost of buying or renting a decent home. Many of these families have incomes that are too high to receive preference for federal housing assistance but too low to benefit from the mortgage interest deduction and other tax policies that promote homeownership.
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However, many of the solutions discussed on the site can be adapted to serve families at other income levels.
Click here for more background on the focus of HousingPolicy.org and how the initial policies were selected for inclusion.
Since our launch in 2008, we have added additional sections that address specific populations or policy goals. In addition to solutions that target working families, HousingPolicy.org now includes sections on meeting the housing needs of older adults and improving home resistance to natural disasters. Look for additional sections to be added as we continue to grow!
Click here for links to other organizations that focus on the housing challenges facing households that are poor or homeless, have special needs, or fall within other defined population groups.
Additional BackgroundThe initial framework for HousingPolicy.org was developed through a
115-page in-depth analysis of state and local housing policy [PDF] by Jeffrey Lubell, director of the Center for Housing Policy. The results of that analysis were summarized in a handbook,
Increasing the Availability of Affordable Homes: A Handbook of High-Impact State and Local Solutions [PDF]. Both the analysis and the handbook were prepared in partnership with Homes for Working Families, a national, nonprofit organization that was dedicated to advancing policy changes that enable more of America's working families to find safe, good-quality homes they can afford. We acknowledge and appreciate their support and insight, as well as our reliance on those earlier materials in preparing HousingPolicy.org; portions of this site have been adapted or excerpted from those earlier works.
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AcknowledgementsHousingPolicy.org was developed with the generous support of the Annie E. Casey Foundation and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. The Casey Foundation provided funding for the homeownership components of the site, while the MacArthur Foundation funded the rental components. Click on the Foundation logos below to learn more about their work.
Click here to view a complete list of the Center for Housing Policy's funders.
Notes and DisclaimersPlease note that any opinions expressed on HousingPolicy.org, as well as any errors or omissions on the site, are those of the Center for Housing Policy only and do not necessarily reflect the positions of any funder or other entity.
The material presented on HousingPolicy.org is provided for informational and research purposes, and has been compiled from sources believed to be reliable. With the exception of the Gallery of Affordable Homes (see below), all information is reviewed for accuracy and completeness; however, given the breadth and dynamic nature of the material, we recognize there may on occasion be errors. Please visit the
Contact Us page to notify us of any inaccuracies or errors found, as well as any additions or examples you would recommend that we add.
The primary purpose of the Gallery of Affordable Homes is to illustrate the variety, quality, and attractiveness of the nation's affordable housing stock. The Center for Housing Policy believes this information will be useful to policymakers interested in learning what affordable housing looks like and how different subsidy streams and public policies are being used to make these developments possible. The information included in the descriptions of developments is generally provided by outside contributors who either built or developed the project or are otherwise familiar with the details of its development. The Center for Housing Poilcy has no way to verify the accuracy of these submissions and makes no representations regarding their accuracy or the long-term financial viability of the properties.
Links made from HousingPolicy.org to other Web sites do not signify an endorsement of the content of those sites. Users may reproduce any portion of the site, although we do request that attribution be given to HousingPolicy.org.
