Planning & Assessment

Mechanisms: Community Plans, Needs Assessments

While people want and need to live in housing that meets a wide variety of circumstances, it is generally acknowledged that in many communities the existing housing stock is not diverse enough to meet certain needs. Some needs that may not be met by traditional housing stock:

• First time homebuyers looking for smaller, more affordable units

• People with disabilities looking for accessible home

• Older adults looking to downsize in their community

We do ourselves a disservice by not designing communities with diverse housing options. Instead, we should be striving for the ultimate goal of aging in place “achieving true choice in housing —the ability to live wherever we want, regardless of age or ability”. i

Comprehensive assessments and plans provide a guiding framework for a community to assess needs and strengths, identify goals, and the organize the partners and policy tools required for making progress on those goals.

For many communities, they are important first steps.

Mechanisms

Needs AssessmentsCommunity Plans

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Citations

iJenni Chin Hansen and Andew Scharlach. Community Services in Henry Cisneros, Margaret Dyer-Chamberlain, Jane Hickie (Eds). (2012). Independent for Life: Homes and Neighborhoods for an Aging America. Austin: University of Texas Press