WHAT ARE THE STEPS TO MEANINGFUL COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT?

The words Community Engagement are used frequently, but the following steps can help bring clarity to what a community engagement process can look like. The questions are a good starting place to identify any needs and considerations.

1. Define scope of the planning process
   Being clear about the scope of the housing strategy will make it easier to engage the community in a transparent and accountable way.

2. What are the goals of the process? Is the developer starting from a relatively blank slate to understand the full set of housing needs or is it focused in on specific project?

3. What is the timeline and decision-making structure that will dictate the process?
    

2. Develop an understanding of the community landscape
   Identify the key individuals and groups the developer needs to engage with. How will youth be engaged and how will the voices of long-term residents be centered?

3. Which local groups or service providers are trusted by community members and can assist in facilitating engagement?

4. Who are the other stakeholders, including housing and non-housing practitioners, political leadership, state program departments, informal community leaders, and other governmental agencies? Each brings important perspectives, concerns, resources, and expertise to the housing planning process.

5. Review previous planning and community engagement efforts in the area. Investigate whether past plans were implemented or if they remain unused. Understanding past experiences with community engagement is crucial, particularly if there is a history of surveys or plans that did not lead to tangible outcomes. Address potential planning fatigue or skepticism by acknowledging these past efforts and showing a commitment to meaningful follow-through.

3. Identify core questions and trade-offs
   The community engagement process is a chance to get the community’s help answering the tough questions with which leaders and the developer must grapple with in order to craft a housing strategy that is responsive to the needs of the community. While it might seem daunting to put controversial questions before the community, these questions will emerge regardless, and it is best to be frank about them from the start to ensure an inclusive process and secure community buy-in during implementation.

4. Are there segments of the community that will be particularly interested in those questions?

5. With such a huge need for housing across the community, how are you justifying and prioritizing the community demographic the housing development will target? How do you help community members that won’t be able to live in the new development feel like they are not being left out?
    

4. Assess community capacity
   To ensure targeted and robust feedback from community members, you may also need to provide additional information related to the overall engagement process and the components of a housing strategy.

5. What kind of information will community members need to comfortably and meaningfully engage in planning housing strategy (glossary of terms, examples)?

6. How will the materials and information be delivered in a way that ensures accessibility for a diverse range of community groups?
    

5. Design engagement strategies and identify resource needs
   There are a range of engagement strategies to consider depending on the scope of the planning process, the community landscape, the capacities of the developer, your organization, the community, the questions that need to be answered, and the resources available.

6. Have some strategies worked better than others in the community in the past?

7. Is there political support and community interest in a sustained, structured advisory committee or taskforce to guide the process and develop policy recommendations?

8. What other community perspectives should be brought in and what are the best community-based meetings and outreach strategies for reaching them?

9. Could web-based engagement tools help to engage people who cannot attend in-person meetings?

10. Where and when should meetings occur to ensure a diverse range of community members can attend? Does childcare need to be offered onsite to help more community members attend?

11. What resources are needed to implement the most effective engagement strategies?
     

6. Decide how input will be used
   To build community support, it is important to be clear with the participants about how you plan to use feedback from a taskforce, public meetings, online surveys, and any other engagement, and to follow through on those commitments.

7. Who will be involved in deciding what will be incorporated into the final strategy and what was their involvement with the overall engagement process?

8. How will the development team share and discuss with the public which community recommendations were used and which were not and why not?

Remember, community engagement doesn’t end after a defined planning process. Consistent and intentional engagement will help you avoid the Not in My Backyard attitudes that stall many projects. Community members can help see the plan through to successful implementation and play a key role in the approval process. Additionally local stakeholders (individuals and institutions) who own land may be more willing to sell or donate if they understand there is alignment between affordable housing and the community’s goals. Public information and opportunities for feedback should be at each step, to create buy-in and relieve confusion and frustration.