State and Local Advocacy Resources

Creating and maintaining an effective advocacy program at your HBA is a critical part of your organization’s ability to serve as an influential voice for the housing industry in your community. These NAHB resources can help you get started.

Local Advocacy Guides

• Guide to Building a Successful Local Advocacy Program provides guidance and the steps your association should take to establish itself as a leader in your community.
• Run: A Guide to Seeking Elected Office provides the knowledge and tactics to help NAHB members become winning candidates for office and sought-after volunteers.

Land Use and Zoning Materials

• Strategies for Streamlining the Development Review Process is a comprehensive guide to help improve the process with examples and recommendations.
• Land Use 101 pages provide resources to address challenges in local land development processes with the Land Use 101 Toolkit.
• Impact Fee Handbook provides home builders a resource for exploring issues related to impact fees and strategies for achieving balanced infrastructure financing solutions.
• Structural Inequities in Land Use and Housing page contains resources from the NAHB Land Development Committee and the Structural Inequities Working Group. They support a development environment that promotes all types of housing available to all people at all income levels.
• Inclusionary Zoning Primer is an economic research study about inclusionary zoning and case studies from different housing markets.
• San Diego study of Inclusionary Zoning is a research study funded by SLIF.

Housing Affordability Advocacy Videos

• Home Building 101: This short video featuring NAHB CEO Jim Tobin explains the costs of building a home and highlights NAHB's 10-point plan to address housing affordability.
• Video Series: How Can You Improve Housing Affordability was created specifically for policymakers at the state and local level.
• Video Series: Housing Affordability in Your Community: HBAs can download and share these videos that explain the challenges related to housing affordability.

Case Studies

• How Did They Do It? Discovering New Opportunities for Affordable Housing is a report features a dozen detailed case studies from across the country that showcase how communities can increase housing affordability.
• Rethinking Affordability in Chicago is a two page summary about Chicago’s Affordable Housing Requirements (ARO). The HBA of Greater Chicago also commissioned a white paper about ARO funded by NAHB’s State and Local Issues Fund.

State and Local Issues Fund

The State and Local Issues Fund (SLIF) provides financial assistance to HBAs involved in advocacy efforts on issues affecting the housing affordability.

Apply for the Fund