The Housing Supply Accelerator Playbook

May is Affordable Housing Month. Rural Resurrection continues to explore ways to help communities provide safe, decent, affordable housing.

Last year, at this time, I reported on a new initiative that brought two organizations together for the greater good. The National League of Cities (NLC) and the American Planning Association (APA) combined forces to create the Housing Supply Accelerator. A partnership that both entities were hoping would help resolve the housing crisis that the country is facing. At the front of this effort was APA President Angela D. Brooks, FAICP, and NLC President and Tacoma, Washington, Mayor Victoria Woodards. Angela, a recent keynote speaker at the 2024 Nebraska Planning Conference, has dedicated her career to improving safe, affordable, and equitable housing options.

Together, the organizations wanted to forge “A partnership between the National League of Cities (NLC) and the American Planning Association (APA), the Housing Supply Accelerator is a national campaign to improve local capacity, identify critical solutions, and speed reforms that enable communities and developers to work together to produce, preserve and provide a diverse range of quality housing by realigning the efforts of public and private stakeholders in the housing sector to meet housing needs at the local level.“

Opening the Playbook

The Playbook is designed as a framework designed to help local governments, developers, and community stakeholders speed up the delivery of housing. It is stuffed full of strategies that are implementable and have been proven to work elsewhere. The strategies within the Housing Accelerator Playbook are not just a smattering of a few loosely drafted suggestions. Each area of concentration provides numerous thought-provoking ideas on how to increase the supply and diversity of housing:

Construction and Development: 13 Strategies

Finance: 17 Strategies

Land Use and Regulations: 14 Strategies

The proposed solutions in this guide are supported by the core partners of the two organizations involved. The Mortgage Bankers Association, National Association of Home Builders, and National Association of Realtors have all voiced their support for the Playbook. This is important to the overall success of the program and the long-term approach to the crisis.

With the help of the Playbook, communities can hopefully make significant progress toward ensuring that more people have access to safe, affordable, and well-located homes.

Check it out Yourself

The Housing Accelerator Playbook is not a one-size-fits-all solution. Every community has its own unique situation with its own set of challenges to overcome when it comes to housing. But the Playbook is a general guide, a foundation from which rural communities can build their own efforts and make meaningful progress in solving the housing crisis. Don’t take my word for it. Download the Housing Accelerator Playbook yourself from the APA website.

What strategies do you think would work best in your community? Let’s start the conversation!