CREDITS: 2.25 CM

ABSTRACT

Note: Participants should come ready to share and discuss housing challenges and solutions. You MUST pre-register for this session to guarantee your slot; empty seats will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis.

Housing challenges are rarely the result of a single issue. They reflect a complex tangle of supply constraints, regulatory hurdles, development capacity shortages, and disconnects between what’s being built and what people actually need. This session reframes the problem through the lens of the housing ecosystem—a systems-based approach that considers how demand, zoning, production capacity, financing, and equity interact. Through real-world examples and interactive audience engagement, we’ll explore how to identify and address “friction points” in the system that prevent attainable housing from being delivered. These dysfunctions are rarely accidental—they’re often the result of structural barriers that limit access for lower-income households, people of color, and other underserved populations. The core of this session in a live Fix-It Clinic: attendees will work in small groups to diagnose real housing challenges using a systems-based framework and guided discussion prompts. Drawing on their own experiences and perspectives, participants will identify friction points, explore potential solutions, and learn from peers facing similar issues in different communities. Panelists will facilitate and synthesize key insights, helping connect individual challenges to broader housing system dynamics. This isn't a theoretical session—it's hands-on, collaborative, and designed to leave attendees with practical tools and strategies they can apply back home. As a take-home tool, all attendees will receive a digital “Housing System Self-Audit” workbook to guide local diagnosis and next steps after the session.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES 

1. Apply a systems-based housing framework to local housing challenges by examining how regulation, production, demand, and equity intersect.
2. Identify “friction points” that disrupt housing delivery—including those that perpetuate inequity or limit attainability—and analyze who is most impacted.
3. Use case-based tools and diagnostic techniques to build real-world solutions that can be scaled to different community types and planning contexts.