Market Context

The 2021 Growth Management Act adopted a framework requiring Washington’s fastest developing municipalities to prioritize income-based housing options that accommodate the projected population growth. This framework predicts at least one million new homes will be needed by 2044. Much of the projected population growth is predicted to be low-income , which underscores the importance for more apartment, condominium, and middle housing units; for easier access to emergency and supportive housing; and to better leverage existing accessory dwelling units. Washington State Department of Commerce is at the epicenter of these rapidly-evolving needs.

Challenge

Our remit from WA Commerce was to develop a communications strategy and create content to educate local leaders about equitable housing solutions in their communities. This content needs to address common misconceptions within the general public as well as encourage behavior change. The Formative team has been involved in a variety of housing-equity-related engagements and valued the opportunity to work with WA Commerce on one of the most critical issues facing Washington State.

With direction from the Commerce team, we focused on six core housing themes, ranging from policy education to existing racial disparity to actionable solutions. We brought storytelling to life through visually engaging and informative digital communication materials that moved the needle on the imperatives of the problem, as well as possible solutions to these challenges.

Solutions

1. Create topic-based videos to encourage education and participation on web and social platforms.

Problem
Housing policy changes are often met with distrust in communities. Feelings of skepticism are exacerbated by overwhelming or unavailable facts regarding these changes. Community leaders need engaging materials that provide useful information directly from trusted experts in their respective fields.

Outcome
Our team performed in-depth interviews with housing policy experts across the state of Washington. We sought to understand the historical context of their fields as well as what changes within policy and public behavior were necessary to accommodate a more sustainable housing model for the growing population. We crafted an engaging storyline and created videos meant to be consumable, fact-based, and persuasive. The interview segments were accented with visual elements, like infographics and stat callouts, to add more emphasis to key points.

Each video weaves a diverse cast of policy experts who encourage housing solutions with candor and urgency. A final call to action leaves viewers with practical steps to take in their communities.

2. Design digital materials that provide comprehensive housing policy information.

Problem
Municipality leaders need information-rich resources to educate their peers and community members alike. These materials are essential for public presentations, online campaigns, and print distribution.

Outcome
Our team wrote and designed presentations and short fact sheets for each of the six core housing topics. The presentations provide in-depth detail to contextualize the current housing climate, outline obstacles communities need to overcome, and provide useful resources to promote action. The brief fact sheets summarize key details in a simple and easy-to-read format.

3. Meet accessibility standards so audiences have equal opportunities to understand the information being presented.

Problem
The state of Washington is diverse with many racial, ethnic, and socio-economic populations. To achieve equity-driven housing policies, we must first make messaging accessible to the widest possible audiences.

Outcome
Our team wrote with approachable language, to be consumable for all audiences above an 8th grade reading level. Our videos utilized voice-overs for the sight-impaired and closed captions for the hard-of-hearing. We translated all video captions, presentations, and fact sheet text, to Simplified Chinese and Spanish.