Event #5 Overview

On Wednesday, December 3, 2025, coalition members gathered virtually for Workshop #4, Breaking Down Barriers, the final virtual session before transitioning to in-person meetings in 2026. After a brief recap of November’s workshop, the Housing Lake team presented an in-depth analysis of participants’ housing allocation votes and housing typology insights, revealing key patterns across the six subregions and noting how priorities shifted between general housing and deed-restricted affordable unit allocations.

In breakout sessions, participants engaged in three interconnected activities over a 75-minute period. First, they discussed the reasoning behind their allocation decisions through facilitated conversation and Mentimeter polling, exploring which of the six housing factors most informed their choices. Next, participants grappled with strategic tradeoffs through interactive slider scales, positioning themselves along three key spectrums: spreading housing for equity versus concentrating where infrastructure exists; prioritizing housing near employment centers versus lower-cost areas; and focusing on actively growing communities versus those experiencing less growth.

The Housing Lake team then introduced four foundational pillars that emerged directly from participant input: Policy & Regulatory Reform, Funding & Financing Tools, Partnerships & Development Capacity, and Communications & Education. The presentation demonstrated how each pillar addresses specific opportunities and barriers coalition members identified throughout previous workshops.

Finally, participants collaboratively worked on the Communications & Education pillar, reacting to a draft vision statement and prioritizing objectives through Mentimeter polls. They identified the communication strategies that would have the most significant impact and shared the messages that resonate in their communities.

Coalition members reconvened for brief report-backs highlighting key insights from their discussions. Facilitators outlined next steps, previewing the in-person Workshop #5 on January 14, 2026, where participants will refine the remaining three frameworks, followed by the Housing Summit in February 2026 to present all four frameworks and launch Phase 2 implementation.