HUD logo

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has announced a forthcoming online resource to help state and local decision-makers think regionally about how to expand affordable housing opportunities for older adults and others.

“Creating inclusive communities is not always popular and forces us to have difficult conversations about our nation’s most challenging unresolved issues of class, race and discrimination,” HUD Sec. Julián Castro said in announcing the “Prosperity Playbook” at a Feb. 17 event in Kansas City, MO. The Missouri event was the first of several where HUD, Castro said, “hope[s] to extract the best ideas from communities already doing great work, share these findings and lift up other communities in their efforts to increase mobility for our nation’s most vulnerable citizens.” Castro also will travel to Denver, San Francisco, Atlanta and Minneapolis as part of his tour.

The “Prosperity Playbook” will not be a federal mandate or plan, according to HUD. Rather, it will be a collection of regional blueprints outlining best practices and ideas to tackle the specific challenges facing local communities in creating more inclusive communities. The new online resource will be available this fall.