PolicyLink is guided by a determination to improve the lives of people in low-income communities of color by working with these communities and other key partners to achieve critical policy changes that promote equitable development. A key arena of our equitable development policy work focuses on achieving the fair distribution of affordable housing throughout regions.
Growth patterns in the United States have left low-income residents with substandard housing, high concentrations of poverty, racial segregation, poor schools, high housing costs, limited access to jobs, and a crumbling infrastructure.
Strategies to address these disparities include creating new revenue streams for producing more affordable housing and legislating zoning and production requirements, such as inclusionary zoning (IZ), which tie affordable housing to private development. IZ is one of the strategies discussed in the PolicyLink Equitable Development ToolKit. The Toolkit, created in partnership with community organizations from dozens of metropolitan regions, draws on information collected from research, convenings, and coalition building efforts to impact public policy.
Effective policy impact requires flexibility and endurance, and organizations often need various kinds of capacity building to support data collection, develop media strategies, inform leaders and constituencies, and provide training and technical assistance in creating effective campaigns. Our work includes assisting campaigns seeking inclusionary zoning policies, research to identify permanent sources of revenue to finance the development of affordable housing; communications to highlight promising practices across the country that have been used to promote and develop affordable housing; and capacity building to forge connections between affordable housing and other critical issues of regional equity such as transportation, employment, and environmental justice.