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Not enough affordable housing

Tools communities use to add housing people can afford, in cities and rural areas.

Before you rely on thisThese are older articles and answers, and laws and programs change and vary by place. For current rules, check with your local housing authority and your state housing finance agency.

Start with these

  1. Guide

    Housing Affordability Requires Community Resolve

    Housing affordability, where rents and home buying costs match wages, is a moral obligation. Equity will come when all communities show a healthy income mix.

  2. Guide

    Rural Housing Challenges Include Quality, Quantity, Cost

    Rural housing issues and solutions are discussed, including cluster design, farmworker shelter, and increased supply and affordability.

  3. Guide

    Accessory Dwelling Units Add Housing, Reduce Cost

    Learn how accessory dwelling units aid housing affordability, help older adults stay at home, and increase efficiency in providing services and utilities.

  4. Visitor question

    How to get more fixed income housing built

    Visitor Question: My mom, Edith Metzger Booser, organized a team in Middletown PA which succeeded in changing a junk yard into a lovely high-rise apartment

  5. Guide

    Nonprofit Housing Developers Fill Market Gaps

    Nonprofit housing developers, or community housing or development corporations, build or renovate housing where markets fail to meet community needs..

  6. Guide

    Inclusionary Zoning Keeps Housing Costs Down

    Inclusionary zoning means assuring that the local zoning ordinance is flexible enough to allow production of new below-market-rate housing.

  7. Guide

    The Problem with Gentrification Is Displacement

    Gentrification is the process of neighborhoods becoming unaffordable to those who currently live there. This page shows strategies to prevent displacement.

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Original guidance from A Good Community: How to Make and Keep It, owned and edited by Nancy Thompson (formerly Useful Community Development), shared with permission. Community Compass notes and updates are our own and have not been reviewed by Nancy Thompson.