Deciphering the Need in Housing Markets

Planners need straightforward tools to guide them toward the selection of appropriate strategies for resolving problems of housing affordability in their communities. Planners should use these tools to update their consolidated plans periodically, assessing the fit between the community's housing market conditions and the intervention strategies selected. Research suggests that planners often fail to select strategies that fit the conditions in their markets. This article offers a relatively uncomplicated technique designed to use census data to aid planners and local decision makers in better understanding the nature of the housing problem in each market sector.