Civic governments across North America are striving to balance their goals for economic growth alongside the escalating need for affordable housing. Historically viewed as often conflicting agendas, there is now a growing consensus that the attainment of sufficient affordable housing stocks is a key driver in the achievement of sustainable economic development. To maximize economic opportunities in concert with housing initiatives, modern permitting and planning software systems are helping government leaders to meet this moment with the right tools at the right time. Modern software systems that streamline building processes while simultaneously enhancing urban planning and community development efforts have emerged as a key pillar platform for jurisdictions committed to succeeding in the dual mission of, 1) Building more affordable housing and, 2) Boosting economic development.
Let’s take a closer look at how this technology is moving the needle for these 2 mission-critical community development mandates:
Traditional permitting processes, particularly those reliant on outdated legacy systems, have relied on burdensome paper processes and manually intensive review cycles, both of which combine to bog down development projects and deter investment. In contrast, modern permitting and planning software systems like POSSE PLS fully integrate and automate these processes creating several core benefits:
Award-winning permitting and planning systems like POSSE PLS play a pivotal role in stimulating economic development by fostering a more conducive environment for both businesses and investors:
With housing affordability now firmly entrenched as a pressing challenge in many cities across North America, the robust capabilities of modern permitting and planning systems are now more critical than ever to enable community development leaders to overcome this systemic problem.
Land Use Optimization
Through the provision of powerful tools for analyzing and optimizing zoning and land use controls, forward-thinking urban planners can better identify those areas most suitable for affordable housing investments. By modeling various land use scenarios impacted by different policy levers, community development leaders can envision a plethora of potential planning outcomes to develop approaches that yield optimal outcomes for increased housing affordability and economic growth.
Administration of Incentives
To serve the many municipalities now offering incentives for affordable housing such as tax abatements or density bonuses, modern municipal permitting systems are capable of seamless data-sharing with these programs to streamline their administration and ensure that incentives are being effectively utilized to achieve affordable housing provision.
Data-Driven Development Planning
By assessing housing needs, tracking affordability trends, and evaluating the impact of different policy levers, today’s government leaders can leverage the capabilities of modern software systems to achieve true data-driven analysis. Doing so informs decisions on where to allocate resources and how to best implement housing and economic development policies that meet the evolving needs of their residential and business communities alike.
To achieve true synergies between economic development policies and affordable housing needs, it’s essential that today’s community development agencies facilitate a dynamic public engagement process. Modern software systems are well equipped to enable improved interactions between urban planners, developers, and residents—via increased information transparency and effective project visualizations.
Planning Interactions
System workflows can be leveraged to help residents participate in planning processes with timely notifications to stay informed on local developments, and clear feedback loops to aggregate public inputs and opinions. Such tools help city planners to gather input and build consensus with the broadest possible segment of the population, thereby encouraging citizens that their voices are being heard.
Data Visualizations
The ability of systems like POSSE PLS to seamlessly integrate with Geographic Information Systems (GIS) equips stakeholders to see proposed changes in their communities with vibrant visuals that help both residents and business owners to assimilate new development plans and their potential impacts.
Mature permitting and planning systems like POSSE PLS are capable of seamless integration into broader urban planning frameworks, facilitating a more cohesive and collaborative approach to development planning:
Holistic Planning
Fully integrated planning systems ensure that affordable housing strategies and economic development plans are aligned with overall urban planning goals. With common data accessibility and highly collaborative processes now achievable, all development stakeholders are equipped to create comprehensive plans that simultaneously address all aspects of a successful and sustainable development plan.
Scenario Modeling
Advanced modeling tools help agencies simulate various planning scenarios to assess potential impacts. This helps to evaluate a diverse range of approaches to ultimately select the most effective strategy for achieving robust economic development and affordable housing objectives.
With economic development objectives and affordable housing needs both dominating the policy agenda at this time, it is fortunate indeed that modern planning and permitting software systems like POSSE PLS are purpose built to accomplish this twofold mission. Once thought of us contradictory and now more fully understood as compatible, these two initiatives dovetail naturally within a modern planning process that fully incorporate a holistic view of all stakeholder perspectives and policy priorities. Guided by highly configurable workflow automations that proactively maintains adherence to building and safety codes, legislative policies, and overarching development plans—the net result is a robust software system that empowers today’s planners and builders with the necessary framework to tackle economic and housing challenges in unison.
Moreover, with artificial intelligence and machine learning already being incorporated into the product roadmaps for solutions like POSSE PLS, the potential for these systems to drive positive outcomes in housing affordability and economic diversification will only grow.
A new community development paradigm has emerged, one that simultaneously balances the overwhelming need for increased affordable housing stocks alongside forward-thinking urban planning that encourages increased development investment across the widest possible range of citizen needs—both now and in the future.
Is your Community Development Agency meeting this moment with the right software system? If no, contact us today for a no obligation Discovery Demo.
