Housing Choices Game: A Scenario Planning Activity Toolkit

This toolkit focuses on the Housing Choices Game, an interactive, persona-based exercise that will help policymakers and members of the public be more aware of the range of options available to increase housing supply and affordability. It focuses on the importance of gamification, the background and intent of the game, how the game has been used for scenario planning, and lessons learned from its use so far. The game is a useful tool in any city, town, or region during the early stages of a housing-focused project and is designed to be used by a broad range of stakeholders, including—but not limited to—elected leaders, appointed/selected oversight groups, municipal staff, and the public. It employs principles of exploratory scenario planning that allow participants to explore uncertainties and issues, which is particularly important before any work has been done to craft specific policy solutions.

The Housing Choices Game is a prototype successfully tested in fall 2023 with graduate students at Portland State University’s Toulan School of Urban Studies and Planning, and during the 2024 Consortium for Scenario Planning Conference. 

In 2023, the Consortium for Scenario Planning supported four exploratory scenario planning (XSP) projects that address housing affordability challenges in communities from San Diego to Pittsburgh. The projects resulted in the development of toolkits that demonstrate how the scenario planning process was adapted in each of the four communities.  The other toolkits can be accessed below:

Pathways for Affordable Housing Initiatives: A Community-Led Scenario Planning Toolkit

Triboro EcoHousing Futures: Scenario Planning for Housing Affordability and Resilience