Tools and resources
The Housing Solutions Lab offers tools and resources for cities to assess housing needs, explore policy options, and implement effective, evidence-based strategies.
How you can use these tools together
Together, the Housing Policy Library, Housing Policy Framework, Build a Strategy resources, and Policy Objectives can help policymakers design a local housing strategy and move policy from planning to implementation. Users can explore policy options in the library, while the framework helps organize these options according to specific goals like increasing housing supply, maintaining affordability, improving access to housing, and preventing displacement.
Housing Policy Library and Framework
Browse over 100 local housing policies in four key areas: developing and maintaining affordable housing, aligning supply with market trends, facilitating greater access to housing, and safeguarding communities against displacement and poor living conditions. Each includes details on implementation, potential trade-offs, and real-world examples.
Build a Strategy
Explore a collection of briefs, guides, and tools to help local leaders develop actionable housing strategies. Learn how to analyze community needs, engage stakeholders, bridge sectors, refine policies and balance tradeoffs, and identify funding sources.
Policy Objectives
Explore how policies connect to different goals. Use the Policy Library and Policy Objectives together to identify solutions, prioritize action, and build an effective strategy.
Housing Needs Assessment Tool
Create a customized report with key metrics related to housing needs and disparities for every city, county, and metropolitan statistical area (MSA) nationwide. Each report includes maps and visualizations that describe local housing supply and affordability trends by neighborhood, race, ethnicity, age, and income.
Land Use Reform Tracker
The NYU Furman Center Land Use Reform Tracker serves as a central database for researchers, policymakers, city officials, journalists, and others interested in land use policy.
Federal Funding Directory
Federal resources assist cities and counties in funding programs that support low-income families with rent and help build and maintain affordable homes. Our directory offers clear summaries of federal grants, loans, and tax credits to guide local governments and housing professionals through the complex federal support landscape.
More ways to engage with our tools and resources
Find answers to common questions below.
Start with the basics! Visit Housing 101 for clear, simple explanations of key housing concepts.
We offer two self-paced, online training modules: Core Concepts, which reviews fundamental concepts of housing affordability, and Developing a Strategy, which provides a more detailed overview of how localities can develop a local housing strategy.
We partner directly with cities to advance their housing policy work! Learn more about our engagement opportunities, or reach out to us with your idea.
We’d love to try! Whether your question is about housing policy, data, research, or something else, someone from the Lab will be in touch with you soon.
Housing 101
Start with the basics — visit Housing 101 for clear, simple explanations of key housing concepts, tools, and strategies to guide your work.
