The Housing Roadmap

Start where you are

Jan 03, 2025

A New Endeavor

This substack is intended to help local leaders and change agents make sense of their housing market and take specific actions for positive change. Here, we will help you to identify the major levers of influence and how to pull them. We’ll also share best practices from our partners in the field who are doing great work and moving the needle.

Solving for a local or regional housing shortage is no small feat. And yet, solutions are within our grasp.

Why now?

Truly solving for the lack of available and affordable housing requires an all-hands-on-deck approach from local leaders - ALL LOCAL LEADERS. Solutions do not come simply because a handful of nonprofits are furiously building a few dozen homes (though this is an important piece of the puzzle). Solutions do not come because one unit of government makes modest changes to local zoning (yet this is also an important puzzle piece).

What is needed is an alignment of community partners - multi-jurisdictional public sector, private sector, nonprofits, and philanthropy - all working toward a common goal. This requires a basic understanding of the data and the people who most need housing. It requires relationships with the people who are actually building the majority of housing in the community - typically this is for-profit builders and developers. And it requires the willingness and ability to organize and coordinate capital.

Over the last couple of years, we have been repeatedly asked to provide a clear roadmap for all sectors, with every step outlined along the way. In a system that is impacted by federal interest rates, local builders, state regulations, and a myriad of factors in between, it’s not easy to distill all the levers and dials down to a single page. So, we’re going to walk partners through the process step-by-step here. And, of course, we’re always available for a phone call or a meeting to take a deeper dive together.

Who we are.

Flywheel Companies is a neighborhood design firm. We help communities to understand and create the best possible neighborhoods for people to thrive. Our collective background spans the fields of urban planning, economic development, community engagement, affordable housing, finance, public policy, communication and public relations, technology and education. Collectively, our shared disciplines allow us to work with cities, counties, townships, non-profits, business leaders, chambers of commerce, and philanthropy to build great neighborhoods for local people.

What kind of community are you looking to build?

Over the next 12 months I hope that this site becomes a resource for community members who want to lean in, dig deep, and build better places.

We try to use smart brevity whenever possible and want these posts to be accessible to both casual readers and our fellow community design nerds. So, these posts will generally offer high level direction and provide links to additional resources for those who want to take a deeper dive.

More specifically…

This site is intended for people who want to invest in their own neighborhood or the places nearby. It is designed for folks who want to understand root cause, but also want to take action and make change right away. Our primary area of work is in the affordable and abundant housing space, but we will also touch on thriving business districts, mobility and neighborhood design, and many of the ways that we can make our neighborhoods more enjoyable, more accessible, and more beautiful.