Developing an Effective Housing Strategy

Housing Strategy

Introduction

In communities across the globe, a silent but pervasive crisis has taken root. It’s not a sudden disaster or a single event, but a slow, grinding misalignment between housing supply, the cost of a home, and household income. This is the modern housing crisis, and solving it requires more than just building more units it demands a comprehensive approach rooted in data, location, and long-term planning. According to the white paper Developing an Effective Housing Strategy: A GIS-Based Approach by Esri, the world’s leading geographic information system (GIS) software provider, the key to unlocking this complex problem lies in one simple question: where?

This document serves as a housing strategy guide for state and local governments, policymakers, urban planners, and nonprofits. It argues that housing is inherently driven by location. You cannot effectively address affordability, accessibility, or attainability without understanding where people need housing, where land is available, where infrastructure exists, and where vulnerable populations reside. The solution, as outlined across seven actionable steps, is a GIS-based approach that transforms raw data into a dynamic, visual, and strategic framework for change.

Understanding the Housing Crisis: Why Location Matters

Before diving into solutions, the document clarifies the core problem: housing supply, home costs, and household income are fundamentally out of sync. While collaborations between state governments, local municipalities, and nonprofits are essential, addressing the crisis is complex. Traditional methods often fall short because they lack a geographic approach.

A housing strategy must begin by asking where. Where do seniors need accessible units? Where are jobs located relative to affordable rentals? Where can we build missing middle housing such as duplexes, triplexes, and townhouses, that fits between single-family homes and large apartment complexes? Without answering these spatial questions, resources risk being misallocated, and policies may fail.

Esri’s GIS technology solves this by allowing governments to map, analyze, and visualize every layer of the housing ecosystem from demographic trends and transportation networks to vacant land parcels and environmental hazards. This location intelligence becomes the common denominator for reform.

1. Map Housing Data and Community Demographics

The first and most critical step in any effective housing strategy is knowing where housing is needed. This goes far beyond simply counting available units. Policymakers must understand a diverse range of residents: renters, first-time homebuyers, growing families, empty nesters, low-income households, people with disabilities, and those experiencing homelessness.

The document emphasizes that housing policy is a balancing act. You cannot just build inexpensive houses; you must know who needs assistance, what type of housing they need, and where it should be built.

Using GIS to map housing data allows governments to:

Best Practice Example – Bellingham, Washington:
The Bellingham Planning and Community Development Department provides extensive maps on housing type, occupancy, density, and population demographics. This GIS-driven analysis helps the city allocate funds to prevent homelessness, target lower-income households, and improve housing strategy stability for all residents.

By moving toward data-driven interventions, communities ensure that resources and funding are placed where they will have the most impact.

2. Implement Policy Initiatives and Legislative Measures

Maps alone don’t change policy, but they provide the evidence needed to drive dramatic legislative action. The document highlights several aggressive policy approaches being pioneered by state and local governments:

GIS must be used to develop these approaches and monitor their impact. Policies implemented as emergency responses often yield only temporary relief. Long-term success requires consistent tracking and optimization.

Using GIS for policy implementation:

Best Practice Example – Oregon’s State Lands Plan:
To meet its goal of adding 29,500 homes per year, Oregon created a state lands inventory map overseen by the Department of Administrative Services (DAS). This GIS tool evaluates parcel characteristics and feasibility for housing. Surplus properties are sold or transferred first to nonprofits and Indigenous tribes provided the land is used for households earning 80% or less of the area’s median income.

3. Target Housing Assistance Programs

Housing affordability isn’t just about land use or supply; it’s also about housing assistance. This includes income supplements, financial education, public housing, and emergency relief. The challenge is connecting residents to the right programs at the right time.

GIS helps governments identify exactly where to intervene. By combining housing, demographic, and lifestyle data, communities can pinpoint neighborhoods in need of financial assistance, home repair programs, or rental support.

Using GIS for assistance targeting:

Best Practice Example – Baltimore’s CoDeMap:
Baltimore’s Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) developed CoDeMap, a GIS-based platform that consolidates property records, code violations, permit histories, and demographic data. This tool helps staff identify at-risk neighborhoods, streamline code enforcement, plan demolitions, and coordinate land resource projects. By visualizing housing strategy needs at the parcel level, Baltimore prioritizes investments and ensures equitable outcomes.

4. Strengthen Zoning and Future Land-Use Planning

Many current zoning regulations are outdated they accommodate single-family homes and large apartment complexes but nothing in between. The document argues that traditional land-use planning must be challenged to address the housing crisis.

Today’s housing must serve an aging population, multigenerational families, young professionals seeking transit access, and vulnerable groups like low-income households and people with disabilities. Updating zoning codes is essential to accelerate the right kind of development.

Using GIS for zoning reform:

A powerful tool mentioned is digital twins real-world 3D models that allow planners and elected officials to test multiple development scenarios in real time. This enables immediate adjustments and clear demonstrations of long-term impacts.

Best Practice Example: Rocky Mount, North Carolina:
Rocky Mount aimed to provide 250 new affordable units in five years. Using ArcGIS Urban, the city performed a suitability analysis considering civic facility access, transit, zoning regulations, and parcel structure. They identified six sites feasible for infill development and passed code changes allowing building heights of at least four stories, ensuring the goal could be met.

5. Streamline Permitting

Slow regulatory review and inefficient permitting processes are major barriers to accelerating housing supply. If it’s not easy for developers or residents to build, housing costs rise, and timelines stretch for years.

Streamlined permitting means digital, automated, and transparent processes. Because permitting is inherently about location where a building will sit, how it connects to utilities, its environmental impact GIS is the perfect solution.

Using GIS to streamline permitting:

Streamlined permitting also helps with emergency housing solutions after natural disasters and with controlling short-term rentals or expediting ADU approvals.

Best Practice Example – Rexburg, Idaho:
Rexburg turned to Trimble Unity Permit, a GIS-centric solution, to digitize permitting and inspection workflows. They replaced paper-based processes with a public-facing portal where developers, contractors, and residents can submit applications, schedule inspections, pay fees, and track project status in real time.

6. Measure the Impact of Development

Building confidence in housing strategy decisions requires measuring the real-world impact of development. Increased density and community growth can significantly affect government services, infrastructure, employment, and open space.

Responsible housing policy must consider whether the new housing strategy is straining roads, water systems, police and fire departments, schools, or healthcare facilities. It must also assess whether job opportunities align with resident qualifications and whether environmental resources are being protected.

Using GIS to measure impact:

The document emphasizes that governments can now operate in near real time, using GIS data daily to make adjustments. Policymaking no longer needs to take years for proof of success.

Best Practice Example – Riverside, California:
Riverside needed to accommodate 18,000 new housing units by 2029. Working with Houseal Lavigne (an Esri business partner), the city evaluated factors for each parcel, including amenities access, workforce proximity, pollution sources, protected natural areas, and natural hazards. This GIS analysis identified the most favorable locations for future development.

7. Provide Public Information on Housing Support

There is no such thing as an overinformed resident or stakeholder. As governments execute housing policies, they must keep the public informed about housing availability, affordable options, units under development, and the progress of investments.

Transparency builds trust and encourages compliance, collaboration, and community support.

Using GIS for public information:

Best Practice Example – Wasatch Front Regional Council, Utah:
The Housing Inventory Explorer app allows users to examine housing strategy trends by type, year built, county, city, and neighborhood. Users can discover housing options within a certain distance of transit stations, highway exits, parks, and trails. This empowers stakeholders and residents to understand the housing landscape and find homes that support their mobility and lifestyle needs.

Conclusion: Develop Your Housing Strategy with GIS

Throughout the document, one message is clear: GIS serves as the common denominator for addressing the housing crisis. Location data is essential to every phase of planning, development, and impact measurement. GIS helps communities scope the extent of housing strategy needs, assess future development, allocate resources, and monitor progress.

Moreover, GIS is the common language that enables coordination among governments, agencies, nonprofits, and developers. It turns a fragmented, reactive approach into a unified, proactive housing strategy.

Esri offers a suite of tools to support this work:

For any government or organization serious about solving the housing crisis, the path forward is clear: adopt a GIS-based approach, start by asking where, and let data guide every decision. Whether it’s mapping housing data, reforming zoning, streamlining permitting, or measuring impact, location intelligence is the foundation of an effective housing strategy.

Also Read: 10 Year's Affordable Housing Delivery and Financial Strategy