Portfolio Category: Community Engagement

The Housing Authority of the City of Eureka (HACE) owns, operates, and manages 196 units of public housing in the City of Eureka, Humboldt County. Funding sources to maintain public housing have become uncertain, outdated, and inefficient. In addition, the public housing owned by HACE is in need substantial rehabilitation and reinvestment.

Therefore, in 2023, HACE initiated a Repositioning Plan, which involves restructuring the financing of its public housing portfolio so that it may rehabilitate existing units, and increase the number of units it owns and manages from 196 units to a new total of 350 units. The Plan involves improving existing units as well as building new units in order to meet growing housing demand.

Housing Tools assisted HACE with community engagement associated with the Repositioning Plan, in order to provide information, answer questions and solicit input from public housing residents, neighbors and the larger community. These efforts included: Community Partner Interviews, a Resident Survey, Resident Focus Groups, a Virtual Neighborhood Meeting and Virtual Community Listening Sessions. In order to support HACE with its future outreach efforts, Housing Tools summarized the process and input from community engagement in a report “Repositioning Plan: Community Engagement Outcomes Report”.

Our firm led innovative and locally relevant community engagement activities focused on affordable housing to help Humboldt County carry out programs from its 2019 Housing Element Update. Over the course of one year, Housing Tools designed and implemented the following activities in collaboration with County staff:

• Ten stakeholder interviews with homelessness and housing advocates, housing developers, government staff, elected officials, realtors, and service providers.
• Three community listening sessions for those who live in rural areas, those who live in coastal areas, and low-income households/service providers.
• An online housing community survey to ascertain the public’s perceptions and understandings of affordable housing.
• An outreach plan for online and in-person campaigns to help County staff identify methods and strategies to meaningfully engage with the community.
• An online community workshop for those interested in developing affordable housing.
• An online community workshop for those interested in Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs).
• Templates for branding and messaging efforts such as community reports, email campaigns, flyers, graphics, press releases, and social media that incorporate local context.
• An implementation guide for online and in-person public meetings to provide practical steps for County staff to conduct meetings using best practices for equity and community engagement.
• An email stakeholder contact list from the activities listed above of community members interested in future engagement opportunities.

Housing Tools managed all aspects of the Housing Element Update process, including designing and implementing a virtual community engagement strategy. Due to COVID-19 our team pivoted to developing creative, interactive, and robust digital tools. These included a Housing Element website (www.chicohousingelement.com), two online community surveys, one virtual focus group, two virtual community meetings, and regular email updates and social media posts. We collaborated with a professional translator/interpreter to provide materials in English and Spanish languages.

Click here to read a feature story on this project by Western City Magazine from its October 2021 issue.

With the onset of public health restrictions on public gatherings due to COVID 19, our staff facilitated two online webinars to provide information to Amador County residents about the findings from the development of the Plan to Address Homelessness, the state of affordable housing in the county, and how Permanent Supportive Housing is an evidence-based approach to ending chronic homelessness, especially for individuals with mental health and co-occurring health disorders. This work was done to prepare the community and decision-makers for the next steps in accessing No Place Like Home funds. The webinars included live interactive polls and a Question & Answer session in order to ensure community member participation.

Our firm provided Del Norte County with a toolkit containing a variety of ready-made resources to continue their efforts on community engagement regarding homelessness. Materials were made with an average community member in mind who may be new to talking about or considering affordable housing. Visually appealing materials written in plain language helped communicate complex housing concepts and deepen understanding. This included: a monthly calendar to guide their outreach efforts, talking points, social media posts, PSAs, taglines, and brochures and flyers.