Policymakers in a position to impact federal, state, and community decisions relating to housing assistance and development should be informed of the rates of supply and demand for affordable housing in their jurisdictions. Any jurisdiction that receives the federal Community Development Block Grant and related funding is required to develop and submit to HUD a "Consolidated Plan" which examines and quantifies the need for housing, community services and economic development initiatives. Additionally, to comply with IRS regulations, states must have a Qualified Allocation Plan (QAP) to set forth the selection criteria, federal preferences, and state priorities for awarding the Low Income Housing Tax Credit to development projects (see discussion of these plans in recommendation c below). In most localities, construction does not come close to keeping pace with demand, and waiting lists for affordable housing units stretch for years. Policymakers should understand some of the root causes of this shortage, and the actual or potential roles of different organizations in creating and managing housing, in order to determine the best strategies to address community housing needs.

Furthermore, policymakers should be educated about current research on supportive housing models that have emerged to serve people with a spectrum of needs, in order to shape policies that encourage the replication of these models. The housing needs of former prisoners, while unique in certain critical ways, share many of the same challenges and characteristics with the housing needs faced by other individuals and families, such as shelter-dwelling homeless persons, persons with mental illness, people living with HIV/AIDS, and youth aging out of the foster care system, all of whom may need some form of coordinated services in combination with housing assistance. A good resource for any policymaker learning about housing options in his or her jurisdiction is the Corporation for Supportive Housing's Resource Library, online at www.csh.org. The CSH Library provides expertise and information about models of supportive housing, its benefits to communities and neighborhoods, and ways to finance and develop it. The interactive online CSH Financing Supportive Housing Guide may be particularly helpful to those seeking to determine a possible funding basis for developing housing options.

Policymakers who appreciate the benefits to the community that supportive housing can provide, in terms of reducing crime and recidivism rates and the costs associated with providing emergency services, may use these factors to offset not-in-my-backyard ("NIMBY") attitudes. Promoting this understanding is a long-term endeavor that may take hold in some communities sooner than others.

Overall, policymakers should seek to join existing efforts to expand the pool of affordable housing resources, increase the government's investment into the creation of affordable and supportive housing, and examine new ways to create financing mechanisms to increase the stock of affordable and supportive housing, including the retooling of criminal justice funding resources.