Building Community Support for Affordable Housing in Litchfield County: a Playbook
Litchfield County’s Center for Housing Opportunity (LCCHO) partnered with national systems change experts TheCaseMade to better understand how residents feel about housing and related issues like education, the environment, and economic development in the county. Then, LCCHO developed a series of messaging recommendations based on this research: Building Community Support for Affordable Housing in Litchfield County: a Playbook. This playbook is intended to help advocates build more public support for affordable housing by changing the way they make their case.
Executive Summary
When we talk about affordable housing in our communities, we often hear pessimistic comments like, “this problem is too big for us to address locally,” or “there is not enough money, time, or expertise to solve this problem.” This way of thinking discourages people from supporting the solutions we know work.
Also, it’s not true. We know how to access the money and expertise needed to create housing opportunities in Litchfield County. We’re already doing it. What we need is to activate a broader group of people to support these solutions.
For decades, across Litchfield County, small non-profits and volunteer committees have been creating, supporting, and caring for affordable homes and apartments. These groups are driven by local volunteers who support the types of housing development that fits their community’s needs and scale. Residents are taking advantage of these housing options.
New families are putting down roots. Businesses are hiring and keeping workers who can now afford to live nearby. Retirees are able to stay in the towns where they have lived and worked for decades.
Advocates need to begin changing these perceptions by telling positive stories which demonstrate that affordable housing is an asset, that it advances equity, and that residents have the power to support and create it.
Many people, however, are not hearing these success stories. This is partially because we haven’t invested the resources needed to get these stories out to the public in a consistent and ongoing way. It’s also because positive stories can be overshadowed by negative stereotypes around affordable housing. When affordable housing is seen for what it is—a benefit that adds value to the community and creates a more equitable housing system—people become more receptive to it and new voices lean in to support it.
We can broaden and deepen the support for our work and activate new champions by talking about affordable housing in a different way. The following strategies, detailed in this playbook, can shape how you talk about this issue with your community in order to build more support for it:
Build optimism - focus on success stories, solutions, and local control.
Navigate disruptive comments and emphasize what we all have to gain when we create housing opportunity.
Share stories of people AND the inequitable systems responsible for housing affordability challenges.
Develop an authentic, ongoing community engagement strategy.
Stuart Farms (Kent Affordable Housing)
A Little Background
Litchfield County’s Center for Housing Opportunity (LCCHO) conducted surveys during the summer of 2023 to better understand residents’ attitudes towards housing and related issues like education and economic development. LCCHO thanks Dr. Tiffany “DrT” Manuel and her team at TheCaseMade for their research reflected in this report, based on DrT’s Strategic CaseMaking™ Framework outlined in her book Case Made!: 10 Powerful Leadership Principles that Win Hearts, Change Minds, and Grow Impact.
Based on this research and our survey findings, LCCHO is offering the strategies and recommendations detailed in this playbook to help housing advocates reframe affordable housing as a community asset that benefits everyone. Use the strategies in this playbook to activate new champions in your community to join us and stay with us on this journey to create more housing opportunity and a more equitable housing system.
Turn these ideas into action.
The Building Community Support for Affordable Housing in Litchfield County Toolkit will help you bring to life the recommendations in our playbook.
