For their capstone project, students in the School of Planning and Public Affairs created an updated Housing Needs Assessment, a tool to help decision-makers ensure that existing and future residents can find safe, secure, and quality housing that meets their needs and budgets.

Clinton's previous assessment was completed in 2016. The assessment evaluates both housing needs and housing availability, typically determining the number and types of new units needed to accommodate needs, as well as other factors like vacancy, housing quality, rental needs, and more. Housing Needs Assessments are useful to housing developers and support applications to funding programs, such as Iowa’s Workforce Housing Tax Credit program.

A primary goal of this assessment was to evaluate Clinton’s mix of housing options and to discover how it could evolve with changes to the population demographics and housing preferences. With an understanding of the existing mix of housing types, local government officials, local developers, service providers, property owners, and other stakeholders can make informed decisions about future investment and development that respond to the community’s overarching goals.

With a baseline understanding of housing needs, the project evaluated and identified strategies to help Clinton meet its housing needs. The strategies focused on land use, local regulatory tools and financial incentives, external resources, and key partnerships. Additionally, housing strategies should seek to align with Sustainable Development goals and the final report includes an assessment of sustainability dimensions of the project.

Watch a recording of the final presentation (created after the live presentation in Clinton):