Housing Ends Homelessness: Planning for Supportive Housing

Course Details

Planners play an integral role in the development of housing. This course will delve into what supportive housing is and why it’s needed in your community. Planners are uniquely qualified to advance the development of supportive housing, and during this course, we will look at three key areas that spur development (land use and zoning, community development, and funding). For each focus area, we will discuss action items and potential barriers that planners might face. To further support the development of affordable housing, the session will introduce the Supportive Housing Development Decision Guide (the Guide). A tool designed to assist with the management of housing development. 

This Microsoft Excel-based tool guides users in evaluating organizational readiness and capacity to pursue and complete a quality supportive housing project. The Guide follows a five-phase development process and provides an opportunity to identify "primary decision points" that will help shape the purpose, structure, and direction of a project. Embedded in the Guide are additional project resources. The Guide offers practical strategies for overcoming common barriers.

Learning Outcomes

• Understand the basics of supportive housing as a housing model.
• Understand a planner's role in promoting the development of supportive housing.
• Utilize the Supportive Housing Development and Decision Guide, a project-management development tool that outlines the steps of housing development.