Nonprofit Case Study: HousingWorks RI

Old Collateral	New Collateral and Website

Challenge: In 1999, homes were fast becoming unaffordable for most Rhode Islanders. Rents and house prices began to soar while household incomes grew only 1% annually. Adding to this problem was a lack of new “affordable housing” construction and a growing population. Tens of thousands of the state’s moderate-to-minimum wage earners had almost no choice but to live in substandard housing or go homeless.

HousingWorks RI is a coalition, unprecedented in its breadth and depth. It is also a campaign, intended to end Rhode Island's severe shortage of quality affordable housing.

Strategy: We set out to change the perception of Rhode Island’s affordable housing crisis by redefining “affordable housing”* and by painting a true picture of who and how many in Rhode Island have been affected by this crisis. We needed to establish HousingWorks RI as the go-to source for all things affordable housing. And we needed to capture the talents, experience, information, influence, networks and energies of more than 100 member organizations, institutions, corporations, agencies and advocates.

*Affordable housing, according to the federal standard, means a household should spend no more than 30% of its monthly income on housing costs (including rent or mortgage, utilities, taxes and insurance).

Result: We created a new identity along with print and online materials, a new website, and email alerts drawing attention to the housing crisis. We also provided a one-stop, authoritative source of information for government leaders, city/town planners, businesses, developers, and the media about affordable housing in Rhode Island. We developed a quick visual representation of the issue with a series of maps showing where Rhode Islanders can and cannot afford to live by income level along with the percentages of Rhode Islanders within each income level. We developed city/town fact sheets that provide up-to-date statistics for each city and town in Rhode Island, as well as a fact book that contains all of this information in one place.

HousingWorks RI went on to initiate the Vote Yes On 9 campaign, for which we created the campaign identity, billboards, ad series, and other campaign materials. In November 2006, Rhode Island voters — by a two-to-one margin — approved the bond referendum to provide $50 million over four years to create affordable apartments and starter homes for Rhode Islanders.

Only one year later, in November 2007, the bond-funded program, known as Building Homes Rhode Island, awarded $10 million to create 245 affordable, bond-funded rental and homeownership units in 17 different Rhode Island cities and towns. The $10 million investment will also leverage $150 million from other sources.
 

Logo	Stationery System
Pocket Folder with Fact Sheet	Issue Brief
2007 Fact Book	Affordability Poster
E-newsletter/Action Alert	Website