While many real estate developers are known for their
business and financial savviness, there are a host of softer
skills such as communication, engagement, and genuine
care about the end product that can be equally as
important. To make meaningful affordable housing and
neighborhood planning a reality, it is vital for developers to
step away from their computers to interact with residents,
lead community meetings, and gather feedback. Developers
have the power to shape projects and places in ways that
contribute to the creation of healthier, more equitable, and
sustainable places for people to live and thrive.
Any change always has skeptics. In most new construction
buildings, fencing goes up with a vague LLC name and
maybe a pretty rendering, visually blocking people from
what’s behind the gates. Understandably, locals may resist
the change if they do not know what is happening and it
feels inaccessible. The construction one day will be
complete, and fencing will come down, but many questions
about what it will be, who it will be for, and what effects it
will have on my neighborhood are all justifiable. People want
reassurance that their resources of housing and
infrastructure will be preserved or enhanced, and their
lifestyles will not be forced to change.
While building new housing typically comes with improved
quality of life—such as heating and cooling, moisture
barriers, high-quality kitchen and baths, clean air, and more
—thus equalizing the inequalities of substandard housing
stock, and even contributing to improved health outcomes
and life expectancies.
Though historically, investment has come with displacement—
loss in affordability and pushing residents out to further away
neighborhoods. No wonder why residents have increased
skepticism and anxiety when they hear word of new
development coming to their area.
Community engagement is the process of gathering feedback,
to make the newly created development a place that residents
support and part of the excitement of a better, healthier, and
equitable place. The past underscores the necessity for
meaningful community engagement. In the end, communities
know their needs and desires. They know the neighborhood’s
strengths and weaknesses, the missing basic resources or lack
of amenities, and the charm and character.
While leading community engagement takes extra time and
resources of a development team, those that view
engagement as an obstacle may risk missing out on local
knowledge, which could spur a more successful project.
Furthermore, developers engaging with local officials and
neighborhood leaders could help create conversations for
large initiatives such as improved streets, transportation, or
city public amenities that could create additional synergies
between the new development and the surrounding area.
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