Affordable Housing Plans in Local Government: Example Plans, Performance Measures, and Dashboards

 

Why Affordable Housing Planning Matters Now

Affordable housing is a major barrier to achieving economic security, and it has been a growing crisis in North America for decades. Renters in Canada and the United States—and specifically those with low incomes—encounter significant challenges in securing housing. According to the National Low Income Housing Commission, in a report published in 2023, the United States faces a deficit of 7.3 million available and affordable rental homes for low-income individuals, representing an 8 percent increase from 2019.

This scarcity is particularly acute for Black, Latinx, and Indigenous households. Data shows that households with extremely low incomes in Nevada, Oregon, Florida, California, Arizona, and Texas experience the most severe housing shortages. Renters in these income brackets also endure severe housing cost burdens when housing is available—facing costly repairs, inefficient energy bills, and utilities—often allocating more than 50 percent of their income to housing expenses.

In Canada, the statistics are similarly striking. 2021 census data indicated that millions of homes are affected by damage, overcrowding, or unaffordability. Approximately one in six owner-occupied homes were deemed unaffordable, compared to one in three renter-occupied homes.

Housing is a pressing crisis everywhere. Local leaders are increasingly recognizing the need for accessible and affordable living options and are responding with government plans for affordable housing that aim to reduce disparities within their communities.

In this blog post, we explore affordable housing plans as a positive trend for local governments. We examine examples of affordable housing performance measures and strategic plans from our customer base, and review several affordable housing dashboards. Together, these examples illustrate how affordable housing planning can help ensure communities are safe, housed, and thriving.

Affordable Housing Plans: Performance Measures and Strategic Goals

Housing is a basic human right and a cornerstone of vibrant, diverse, and inclusive communities. According to the National Collaborating Centre for Determinants of Health , housing is a key determinant of health shaped by affordability, access, availability, habitability, stability, and broader socioeconomic conditions.

Large community goals like increasing access to affordable housing require clear implementation pathways. Breaking goals into measurable actions tied to budgets and timelines is essential. For this reason, effective affordable housing action plans pair strategic goals with performance measures that track progress and enable course correction.

Common Performance Measures in Affordable Housing Plans

Effective affordable housing planning relies on performance measures that track both policy implementation and on-the-ground housing outcomes. Here are some common measurements we see:

• Affordability metrics: Monitoring the percentage of household income spent on housing and tracking the ratio of affordable units to total housing stock.
• Inclusionary zoning policies: Evaluating policies that require a portion of new developments to include affordable housing.
• Community engagement: Measuring resident participation and feedback in housing policy development and implementation.
• Accessibility and transit-oriented development: Promoting housing near public transit to reduce transportation costs and emissions.
• Preservation of affordable housing: Setting goals for maintaining and rehabilitating existing affordable units.

Let’s take a look at how these strategies appear in real-world government plans for affordable housing.

Integrating Affordable Housing into Long-Term Urban Planning in West Hollywood, CA

West Hollywood is a great example of a municipality using an integrated affordable housing plan to address affordability challenges. Housing strategies are embedded within its Housing Element policy and aligned with broader planning efforts.

Tracking Affordable Housing Implementation Across Departments

Their Envisio-powered housing plan dashboard tracks transit-oriented development, affordability indicators, and renter protections, applying a cross-departmental approach that connects housing, transportation, and land use policy.

The Housing Element policy (2021–2029) includes several affordability-focused components:

• Diverse housing types: Supporting affordable, supportive, workforce, and “missing middle” housing.
• Housing development incentives: Aligning housing approvals with transit access and infrastructure capacity.
• Fair housing priorities: Strengthening renter protections, mediation services, and community land trusts.

West Hollywood’s affordable housing planning explicitly addresses displacement risks, rent stabilization, vacancy decontrol, zoning reform, and tenant safety—acknowledging the structural forces that have shaped housing costs across Los Angeles County.

Linking Affordable Housing Strategy to Budgets and Implementation in Decatur, GA

Decatur’s Destination 2030 Strategic Plan represents a shift toward focused, implementation-driven planning. Community input shaped six strategic themes, with affordable housing emerging as a central priority.

Affordable housing initiatives are tied directly to budget decisions and action plans, ensuring accountability and alignment with broader community goals.

Using Strategic Dashboards to Track Housing Commitments and Progress

Following an Affordable Housing Summit in 2018, Decatur established an Affordable Housing Task Force to guide implementation. Recommended actions include zoning amendments, rental assistance programs, developer incentives, and partnerships with nonprofits and the Decatur Housing Authority.

What we like about this affordable housing plan is that the focus extends beyond mere shelter, aligning with goals of equity and diversity. Decatur is particularly concerned about the over-representation of Black families facing displacement due to rising living costs, leading to economic disparity being disproportionately racialized. Decatur’s plan also involves strategically ensuring affordable housing also includes the convenience of public transit, as well as biking and walking, promoting accessibility and a lowered carbon footprint.

Using Strategic Toolkits to Advance Affordable Housing Planning in Denton, TX

The City of Denton’s Affordable Housing Toolkit outlines five priorities guiding its housing strategy:

1. Infill development opportunities
2. Zoning relief, incentives, and variances
3. Increased capacity and resources
4. Preservation of affordability
5. Improved access to housing information and support services

Denton’s data-driven approach highlights significant affordability gaps. Market-rate rents and home prices require incomes that many essential workers cannot meet.

Making Affordable Housing Action Plans Data-Driven and Transparent

Denton has prioritized data-driven housing plans, which can be challenging. We’ve talked about why it’s so important to prioritize understanding and sharing the facts about a community—even when it shows something unfavorable. Facing the numbers is the first step to improving a situation.

Like many cities across the United States, Denton has witnessed a significant increase in both home prices and rent in recent years. Denton faces a shortage of housing options at low and moderate price points, and this scarcity has placed a financial burden on the lower-wage workforce and young professionals in the community. As they outline in their Affordable Housing Strategic Toolkit , an individual renting a market-rate one-bedroom unit would need an annual income of $45,000, while a household seeking a median-priced home would require an income of $75,000.

To address this, Denton’s affordable housing action plan emphasizes infill development and new guidelines supporting housing for households earning below 80 percent of Area Median Income (AMI).

Collaborative Housing Development Plans in Sydney, NS

While not a local government, New Dawn Enterprises fills a critical housing gap in Nova Scotia through federally and provincially funded initiatives.

New Dawn is developing a 25-unit supportive affordable housing project funded through the Rapid Housing Initiative, Reaching Home, and the Province of Nova Scotia. Their work prioritizes seniors and people with disabilities.

Using Public Dashboards to Support Transparency and Long-Term Sustainability

One thing we love about this dashboard is that it is embedded within their website, making it super easy to find. But the other thing we like is the transparency around each of the projects; where the funding comes from and exactly what it’s going towards.

The New Dawn team has clearly outlined each strategic action and the progress made towards goals– in their section on programming and support, for example, they refer to the fact that they can use other supportive housing projects as benchmarks and inspiration for their own programs. Ensuring necessary resources are available to a community is a critical part of ensuring any affordable or subsidized housing project is sustainable, and that is the careful work they are engaging in.

Their public, Envisio-powered dashboard increases transparency by clearly showing funding sources, project status, and strategic milestones—supporting long-term sustainability.

From Affordable Housing Plans to Measurable Community Impact

The growing focus on affordable housing plans across local governments reflects a necessary shift toward equity and sustainability. By pairing strategic goals with performance measures, municipalities can move from intention to impact.

West Hollywood, Decatur, Denton, and New Dawn Enterprises offer practical models for communities seeking to develop effective government plans for affordable housing. Housing is foundational to healthy communities—and it is worth the investment.