Resources on building public support for affordable housing
Last updated on: October 3, 2025
Public support is critical to the success of any effort to create and preserve affordable housing. A strong and vocal group of supporters can generate momentum for the passage of legislation to create a housing trust fund, organize a constituency to approve a bond issue that provides needed resources, or effectively counter opposition to the development of mixed-income and low-income housing. And yet, while a majority of Americans say the lack of affordable homes is a significant problem in the United States, many cities, towns, and counties have difficulty building support for affordable housing initiatives and developments.
This Lab document includes key resources currently available to local decision makers interested in building support for affordable housing, including:
Messaging guides – Messaging guides focus specifically on how to craft a message of support for affordable housing that is likely to be successful. These materials are generally informed by polls, focus groups, and real-world results of outreach efforts. They provide guidance on how to tell a story or frame a message so that it will resonate with the desired constituency.
Public opinion and messaging research – Research has found that there is general support for affordable housing, particularly when it is framed as providing opportunities for people to get ahead. But the support is passive and, when the general concept of affordable housing becomes a specific development at a particular location, support is often overcome by fear and protectionist reactions. These materials provide insights that supporters and developers of affordable housing can reference to plan ahead and develop strategies to manage opposition through planning, communications, and relationship building.
Informational resources – Informational resources provide facts that can be used to dispel misperceptions and to help make the case for affordable housing—from data sheets illustrating the need for affordable housing in a city, town, or county to reports that link housing to important outcomes, such as health, education, and community and economic development. Informational resources may be written for an academic audience (e.g., peer-reviewed journal articles) or “translated” into user-friendly formats such as infographics.
Campaigns – Campaigns play an important role in helping build public support for affordable housing. Campaigns are ongoing initiatives, generally managed by an advocacy group or membership organization, which local communities or organizations can sign on to and participate in at various levels of engagement. Campaigns typically provide pre-packaged activities, messages, and informational resources, as well as some level of staff support for participating communities or organizations. Some campaigns have a very specific focus on a particular policy or issue area, while others have a more general goal of supporting housing affordability.
Each resource type contributes differently to efforts to counter opposition and build support for affordable housing. For example, local community leaders can refer to messaging guides for direction on how to structure community outreach around a proposed development, and consult informational resources for the research evidence that will allow them to respond to concerns in an informed way. Messaging guides and public opinion research help local leaders translate facts and figures from informational resources into compelling stories that generate attention and effectively make their case.
Community engagement can also be a vital tool for building public support for affordable housing. Visit our Engage page for more information, including guidance on Engaging the community in the development of a local housing strategy and Promoting interagency collaboration in the development of a local housing strategy.
The Housing Narrative Lab conducts narrative research and produces toolkits and guides for practitioners and community leaders trying to make the case for housing. Some of their resources are referenced below, and you can explore additional resources on their website.
Messaging guides
- Sightline Institute. (2023). The pro-homes messaging toolkit. Sightline Institute.
This messaging guide aims to share effective pro-housing language and messaging strategies. Its messages have been tested against polling and focus groups and evaluated by academic researchers. - City of Houston. (2024). Messaging toolkit. City of Houston.
This messaging toolkit, commissioned by the City of Houston, provides language and resources for affordable housing developers looking to bolster community support for their projects. - Byrd, J., & McIntosh, A. (2015). Framing and messaging toolkit. National Housing Conference.
Detailed advocacy toolkit with 11 techniques tested through polling, focus groups, and legislative sessions. The toolkit focuses on effectively communicating with public officials and the general public. - Race Forward. (2023). Housing is a basic human need: A messaging guide for housing justice. Race Forward.
This guide for messaging around housing justice provides tested messages and calls to action for building support for housing justice initiatives. - PolicyLink. (2023). The housing justice narrative toolkit. PolicyLink.
This toolkit provides guidance for storytelling and narrative building through a housing justice lens. - Housing Action Illinois. (2019). A place to call home: Stories from supportive housing residents. Housing Action Illinois.
In 2019, Housing Action Illinois facilitated workshops with supportive housing residents focusing on storytelling for impact. This guide is the result of these workshops and highlights stories from these residents. - Duong, B. (2021). Shifting the affordable housing narrative through arts and culture. NAHRO.
This journal article explores the role of art and culture in shaping the affordable housing narrative. The author draws on examples of other social movements that have used the arts and media to shape public opinions around their issue, and asks how housing advocates can learn from these strategies.
Public opinion and messaging research
Public opinion research
- Monkkonen, P., & Manville, M. (2019, July). Opposition to development or opposition to developers? Experimental evidence on attitudes toward new housing. Journal of Urban Affairs. https://doi.org/10.1080/07352166.2019.1623684
This article draws on survey data from Los Angeles County to evaluate the impact of arguments against new market-rate housing. The authors found that resistance to new development often stems from a resentment of developers. It also found that respondents were less likely to support a project if they thought developers stood to make significant profits from it. - Whittemore, A., & BenDor, T. K. (2018, July). Reassessing NIMBY: The demographics, politics, and geography of opposition to high-density residential infill. Journal of Urban Affairs. https://doi.org/10.1080/07352166.2018.1484255
This article uses a survey of verified voters to break down six concerns about development and how they resonate with different ideological, demographic, and political groups. - Scally, C. P. (2012, December). The nuances of NIMBY: Context and perceptions of affordable rental housing development. Urban Affairs Review. https://doi.org/10.1177/1078087412469341
This article draws on six case studies in New York State to examine local disapproval or acceptance of new Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) projects. Researchers break responses to NIMBY arguments into four categories: “disproving fears, shifting public opinion, regulating equity, and/or circumventing opposition.” - Duke, J. (2010). Exploring homeowner opposition to public housing developments. The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare, 37(1), 49–74.
Examines the beliefs and attitudes of homeowners in two communities where public housing development is planned.
Messaging research
- PolicyLink. (2020). Housing justice narrative (1 pager). PolicyLink.
This summary provides key insights into messaging research conducted in partnership with Community Change and Race Forward into successful messaging around housing. - Rios, M., Louie, B., & Godkin, E. (2016). Changing the narrative of affordable housing. UC Davis Center for Regional Change.
Describes a study undertaken to explore the opposition to and need for affordable housing. Based on their research, the authors recommend campaign messages and strategies. - Terner Center for Housing Innovation at UC Berkeley. (2019). Building community support for housing: Santa Clara County.
This case study draws on lessons from efforts to promote housing in Santa Clara, CA, to share guidance for municipal leaders. - Viveiros, J., & Cohen, R. (2013, August). Building support for affordable homeowners and rental choices: A summary of research findings on public opinion and messaging on affordable housing. Center for Housing Policy.
Provides an overview of research on effectively communicating housing policies through language and messaging strategies.
Survey findings
- Hart Research Associates. (2016). How housing matters: Key findings from a nationwide survey among adults. Hart Research Associates.
Key findings from a national poll on perceptions of housing and affordable housing, personal experience with housing affordability challenges, and the future of economic mobility
Informational resources
Housing and other social outcomes
- Housing Solutions Lab. (n.d.). Why housing matters.
This article, found in the Bridge section of our website, highlights key arguments for the importance of meaningful housing policy, including connections to other policy sectors. - National Housing Conference. (2019, July 17). Housing intersections research. National Housing Conference.
A series of briefs that synthesizes research to illustrate how housing serves as a platform for positive social outcomes. - MacArthur Foundation, & Urban Institute. (n.d.). Housing matters [Website].
This comprehensive website provides resources on the relationship between housing and other domains, including annotated reports, articles, profiles, and weekly news articles. See additional resources on the relationship between Housing and Education and Housing and Health.
Impact of affordable housing developments
- California Planning Roundtable, & California Department of Housing & Community Development. (n.d.). Myths and facts about affordable & high density housing.
Addresses common misperceptions about affordable and high-density housing and provides research to refute community opposition. - Center for Housing Policy. (n.d.). “Don’t put it here!” Does affordable housing cause nearby property values to decline?
Reviews evidence of the impact of affordable housing on property values and could be used to refute community opposition. - DeGenova, A., Goodwin, B., Moriarty, S., & Robitaille, J. (2009). On the ground: 40B developments before and after. Tufts University, Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning.
Research on the actual impact of affordable housing projects compared to predictions about their impact made before construction. - Sullivan, W. (2014). The impact of affordable workforce housing on community demographics, economies, and housing prices and options: Case study: The town of Breckenridge, Colorado.
Examines the impact of targeted workforce housing development on community demographics, the local economy, and housing affordability in Breckenridge, CO.
Housing affordability
- National Low Income Housing Coalition. (n.d.). Out of reach.
An annually updated report illustrating the hourly wage required to rent a two-bedroom apartment in states and communities across the country.
Campaigns
- Cities for Responsible Investment and Strategic Enforcement, & Hester Street. (2019, April). Tools and tactics for engaging communities around code enforcement.
This Toolkit outlines a community engagement process that can help cities gather input, generate potential solutions, and solicit feedback from their communities. While intended to assist Cities RISE grant participants in their code enforcement programs, this guide provides helpful tools and tactics applicable to most community engagement endeavors. - National NeighborWorks Association. (n.d.). Home Matters.
Includes a video library with expert talks, speeches, and PSAs; a resource library for member organizations; and a portal to connect community members with local service opportunities.