Community Engagement


No public program, and especially not the Housing Element Update Process, will ultimately be successful if the community doesn’t support it. To build support for local housing solutions, community participation needs to be at the very core of the Housing Element process. It is “where the rubber meets the road.” In fact, a participatory program of education, input, dialog, and consensus-building can be one of the key strategies for responding to community housing needs. By engaging community residents in a frank discussion of local housing issues and needs, the Housing Element can:

 

  • Develop a greater appreciation among local residents for the depth and breadth of housing needs in their community.
  • Counter stereotypes about “affordable housing” and its potential benefits and impacts.
  • Introduce concepts such as “workforce housing” and the interrelationship between jobs and housing.
  • Explore ways that affordable housing is part of the solution to traffic, quality of life, and open space issues.
  • Focus attention on design and management issues (rather than density and income) that often make the most difference in the long-term viability and acceptability of affordable housing.
  • Establish an overall framework for land use and development decisions that reflects community values and priorities, thereby facilitating subsequent project-specific review and approval.
  • Build a foundation for other community planning initiatives related to smart growth and sustainability.
  • Provide a positive experience in constructive community engagement with benefits that far outlast the Housing Element process itself.

At the core of any successful Housing Element is an effective program of community participation that strives to achieve the following participation principles:

  • Provide Accessible, Usable Information so that all residents and stakeholders have a clear understanding of the key issues, alternatives, and potential trade-offs.
  • Learn from Each Other, recognizing that the process of “education” goes both ways: community leaders and housing professionals need to listen to and appreciate the concerns and priorities of community residents, while residents need to listen to and appreciate the housing needs and challenges facing their community.
  • Focus on the Facts so that decisions are based on reality rather than perception. The more that participants can understand and agree upon what the real needs, resources and constraints are in the community, the more likely they are to agree on potential strategies to address them.
  • Define Key Strategies to provide an overall framework for the Housing Element’s policies and programs. If participants can agree on “the big picture” for responding to housing needs, the more likely that they will be able to work out acceptable resolutions on the more detailed issues.
  • Encourage and Enable Widespread Participation that is meaningful, efficient, and effective. Potential obstacles to participation need to be reduced or removed (e.g., time and location of meetings, language issues, etc.), and participation formats need to provide an opportunity for everyone to participate in a manner that works. Decisions should not be left only to those who can stay the latest or speak the loudest.
  • Facilitate Dialog so that participation becomes more than just “having your say,” but also includes “listening to others have their say” and seeking out common ground and potential solutions. A skilled facilitator with appropriate sensibilities is essential, helping all participants to keep an open mind and to develop strategies that are in the best interest of the community as a whole.
  • Respond to Input to ensure a complete "feedback loop”so that participants know that they have been heard and that their input has been given due consideration.
  • Build Consensus, understanding that not everyone will completely agree on everything. Identify areas of agreement, acknowledging the (usually significant) areas of “common ground” among participants, and then focus on developing potential resolutions to areas of disagreement.
  • Promote Transparency so that even if people disagree with the outcome of the process, they understand how it was reached and the reasons behind the decisions made. The documentation of the process should be clear and complete to provide full understanding of the decisions made.
  • Follow-Through on Commitments made through the Housing Element process, and establish mechanisms for ongoing participation in the implementation process. Recognize that the process of community engagement and participation is ongoing and an essential component of good governance.

Countering Myths

Too often, decisions related to local housing and land use are based on stereotypes, myths, and misperceptions, rather than facts. Members of the public or even decision makers may make statements such as “high density housing leads to high crime” or “affordable housing developments lower property values” without ever substantiating these statements with facts. An effective participation process, informed by reliable data, can help counter such myths and misperceptions.

  • Involve People Who Know the Facts. Include people on the steering committee, in community workshops, and in other participation forums who understand housing issues and related issues, can provide the facts, and can serve as advocates for people who are typically not represented in the decision making process. They can be important participants in community discussions, can help organize tours of local housing developments, and/or can make presentations about the housing needs and issues of low-income households and special needs groups. Include housing experts as well as people with other information, such as police officers regarding the issue of crime and affordable housing or traffic engineers regarding traffic and parking.
  • Provide Reliable, Accessible Information. Do not allow myths and misperceptions to be the basis for decision making. Provide facts in an easy to understand format. This helps people to not only understand “the numbers,” but also what they mean. For example, translate “levels of affordability” into actual rents and monthly housing payments, and compare those payments to the average monthly income of local teachers, retail clerks, police officers, and other members of the local workforce.
  • Give “Affordable Housing” a Human Face. Everyone has their own idea of what “affordable housing” means, and associated stereotypes.Help people understand the definition of affordable housing, and what it means in terms of local housing opportunities and people’s lives. Conduct a tour of affordable housing developments, show videos, and provide literature about what the developments are like. Define who the residents are and encourage their participation in the process so that they can tell their stories and help people understand that real lives are affected by affordable housing.

Community Events 

While housing law requires city council approval of the Housing Element update, and most cities have charters that require planning commission and/or housing commission approval prior to council action, most cities proactively go to the public to encourage their participation in the Housing Element update process.  Among the tools used around the bay are the following:

 

Workshops are the most common type of participation activity in a Housing Element process. Held at key points in the process, they provide an opportunity for members of the general public and invited stakeholders to review information, provide feedback, and engage in a dialog about Housing Element issues, ideas, and policy alternatives. The workshop’s focus should be on receiving participants’ input. At least half or more of the agenda should be dedicated to group discussion on various topics. If the focus is on presenting information rather than on group discussion about the information, then the event should be a presentation, not a workshop. Workshops should be scheduled in either a weekday evening or a Saturday. If possible, conduct a series of workshops (all of them using the same agenda) in multiple locations to maximize attendance. If a single workshop is held, it should be held in a large, central location.

 

A town meeting is a large workshop hosted by the City Council or Board of Supervisors to focus attention on a topic of local importance. It may include presentations, but like a workshop, the emphasis should be on public input and dialog. It is an opportunity for elected and appointed officials to engage in a discussion with members of the public, using a much more interactive format than is typically possible in a formal public hearing or regular city council meeting. Town meetings are usually held in a large, central location on a weekday evening or a Saturday. Ideally, they should also be broadcast on a local cable channel.

 

Discussions about local housing issues can be considerably enhanced by taking participants on a tour of local housing developments. This helps to ground their discussions in reality and provides a common set of reference points. A tour can be useful at the beginning of the process to help introduce committee members to various concepts and developments (e.g., looking at different housing types, different designs and densities, recent developments, special needs housing). It can also be used to engage the group in a visioning exercise, looking at areas in the community and housing developments that they view as positive and successful, and identifying areas in the community or housing developments they would like to see improved. Later in the process, a housing tour can be used to provide information in response to particular areas of concern. For example, a tour of SROs in the local area and nearby communities, or a tour and evaluation of housing opportunity sites may provide additional understanding.

 

Design Charrettes are a type of interactive community workshop where the emphasis is on a specific site or local area and on the physical design constraints and opportunities. To be successful, it needs to involve design professionals (architects, landscape architects, urban designers) who can translate community input into design sketches and ideas. Participants can also get involved through manipulation of a project model and kit of parts, or by making sketches of their own. The charrette should be a very hands-on, interactive activity. If successful, it will result in an agreed upon design approach for the site or area, articulated as a general set of design principles, if not an actual draft sketch or model. Because it is site or area-specific, the use of a design charrette may be limited in the scope of a Housing Element process (which is typically policy-focused and area-wide in scope). However, it may be a useful method for reaching group consensus on the potential opportunities and policy direction for a problematic locale such as the potential for introducing housing in an existing commercial area or increasing densities on key infill properties.

 

An open house provides an opportunity to present information to the public in a more interactive format than an informational display (though informational displays may be included), and a less formal format than a presentation or workshop. Residents and other stakeholders are invited to “drop in” during a certain time period on a weekday evening or Saturday, to get more information about local housing issues and to give their input as part of the Housing Element process. The open house can be set up as a series of information displays, or stations, with project steering committee members, elected and appointed officials, and/or staff and consultants available to answer questions and engage in discussions with participants. Comment forms or large-format interactive displays (e.g., place dots on the map to indicate possible locations for mixed-use development) can be used to collect input, and mini-workshops or a speaker series can be held in conjunction with the open house to provide opportunities for group discussion. An open house can also be held prior to a town meeting or community workshop, where the open house begins one hour prior to the workshop start time; or can be held as part of a larger community event, such as a series of “booths” at a popular community festival in the park. The idea is to reach as many people as possible, especially those who might not typically get involved.

 

A study session can be used at key points in the process to engage decision makers (both elected and appointed officials) in a discussion about key issues and recommendations. Study sessions are particularly useful just before the public hearings to provide a less formal environment for reviewing and discussing the Preliminary Draft or Draft Housing Element. It is an opportunity for decision makers to ask questions and to discuss possible changes to the document, and to involve the public and other stakeholders. Study sessions should be treated like any public meeting, with appropriate noticing and an agenda for the discussion. Members of the public should have an opportunity to present their concerns and opinions, but the focus of the session should be on the input and discussion of the relevant decision makers. Study sessions can include both councilmembers/supervisors and planning commissioners to facilitate their sharing of ideas and opinions.

 

The final public participation opportunities in the Housing Element process are the public hearings that must be held before the Planning Commission and/or City Council or Board of Supervisors to review and approve the Draft Housing Element. Public hearings must follow a specified f format, with members of the public given an opportunity to present both oral and/or written comments on the draft element. Final adoption of the Housing Element is by the City Council and/or Board of Supervisors.

 

Resources:

In March 2007 and 2008, ABAG hosted conferences on Community Engagement. Visit the Regional Best Practices Conference Series website, and look at the conference archives for these events to review the proceedings and related materials.

 

In 2002, a group of civic leaders from diverse segments of the community came together to address the growing crisis of the cost and availability of housing in San Mateo County. A year later they launched a civic engagement project that involved residents and stakeholders in four daylong community conversations about housing, which resulted in a clear vision of the kinds of housing policy choices that the public could be expected to support. Threshold 15/10 is the next phase of the civic engagement effort. Their goal is to create a more informed, active constituency for moving housing solutions forward by mobilizing people to confront difficult choices through constructive dialogue. Contact Information P: (650) 366-4163 E: threshold1510@yahoo.com website: www.threshold1510.org  Briefing Packet,  click here.


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