a designer and strategist
01
Affordable Housing
How might we use waitlists as a nexus to explore and solution in complex space of US affordable rental housing?
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Client
US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
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Date
2023-2024
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My Role
Design Advisor, Research, Business Manager
Context and Approach
Housing instability has shared historical, federal, state, community, and individual factors. To make improvements, we had to address affordability as a systemic challenge without losing sight of the families and professionals who experience this system.
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Rather than follow the classic design process, I proposed a process to first understand the system, then discover what the lived experience of it is and what is the preferred experience. Finally, we need to explore what the effects of these features will be at systemic scales.
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Although the client manages no waitlists, these artifacts provide a situated lens - a nexus - through which we could explode the system in a manageable way
Methods
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Stakeholder mapping illustrated the people and organizations that touch the waitlist system
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Interviewing experts revealed the relationships, the problems and frustrations, and how things really work around here
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I recommended a "core sample" field research strategy. We chose three communities for a longer than usual engagement so we could meet with at least a few of each type of stakeholder to build a picture of how housing plays out in each community
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We also conducted the first ever survey to more than 4,000 public housing authorities about waitlist management
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I suggested we conduct a creative synthesis where we would extend insights into hypotheses - if X was connected to Y, then Z would increase for this user. We then created concepts and prototypes to embody these hypotheses
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We used these prototypes to probe solutions and requirements with partners
Field Notes and Results
Powerful quotes and survey analysis illustrated where the system breaks down and where burden further to those who are least equipped to absorb it and where feedback loops are missing or misaligned. We developed three prototypes - policy, service, and digital product to explore the relative impact of different approaches. Feedback ranged from "that isn't even feasible" to "give me that today!"
