The Community Evaluation and Intervention Process™ is a proprietary methodology for examining and evaluating the housing market in a community for the existence of market failure or for the factors and conditions that have been shown to lead to market failure, and for developing a vision, strategy, and plan for community intervention to address the market failure and provide housing for community residents.

The Community Evaluation and Intervention Process is applicable not only to communities in which the economy depends heavily on tourism but to any community in which significant externalities affect the free functioning of the housing market. Significant housing market externalities include growth management regulations, excessive zoning and land-use regulations, topographical constraints, and a growing number of second home buyers.

The Community Evaluation and Intervention Process should be used to evaluate any community in which (1) housing prices have risen faster than incomes, (2) housing has become unaffordable to local residents, or (3) the community is experiencing a housing crisis.

Community Evaluation

The evaluation phase of the Community Evaluation and Intervention Process entails a careful and rigorous examination of the community and its housing market to ascertain whether the community is experiencing a housing crisis or is likely to experience a housing crisis, and to set the stage for future interventions or for adjustments in the current intervention process. From the evaluation of the community, a community vision can be created and intervention strategies developed and implemented.

Community evaluation involves the collection of quantitative and qualitative information about a community, the evaluation of this information, and an assessment of the community and the housing market, including a review of the community's housing, social, employment, economic, and demographic indicators, a review of regulatory constraints, a review of topographical constraints, the identification of macro and micro trends affecting the community, the assessment of the housing market and identification of key issues, and the evaluation of the community for current or prospective housing market failure.

The Evaluation Process

Community Intervention
Once an evaluation has identified housing market failure conditions and the existence of a current or prospective housing crisis, it is time to engage in the second phase of the Community Evaluation and Intervention Process in order to correct the market failure.

The intervention process contains seven steps: the community creates a housing vision, defines housing goals, analyzes existing resources and resource gaps, identifies necessary actions, pinpoints critical success factors, devises an intervention plan, and implements a series of interventions.

Community Monitoring
The final phase of the Community Evaluation and Intervention Process is the monitoring phase. Communities must continually evaluate the housing market for market failure, look for the appearance of new or changed externalities, check the continued availability of resources needed for the existing interventions, and assess the effectiveness of those interventions.

The Monitoring Phase