Home Forward: Celebrating New Affordable Housing Communities
In collaboration with LC Strategies
Challenge
Home Forward—the largest public housing authority in Oregon—had advanced major affordable housing developments across Multnomah County, yet the broader public remained largely unaware of the scale, momentum, and impact of this work. While those inside the housing and homelessness ecosystem recognized Home Forward as a critical leader, public sentiment was shaped by frustration with the regional housing crisis, stagnating media narratives, and widespread skepticism about government-led solutions.
Communicating the work of public housing authorities is uniquely challenging. NIMBY attitudes persist, local media often focuses on gaps rather than progress, and the public expects rapid results in systems that inherently move slowly. At the same time, with Governor Tina Kotek campaigning on an aggressive housing mandate, public expectations for visible progress increased sharply. In this environment, Home Forward needed a strategic and compelling way to showcase its developments, not just as buildings, but as tangible solutions responding to community needs.
Solution
In partnership with LC Strategies, I supported Home Forward in transforming grand openings and groundbreakings from routine ceremonies into meaningful public education moments. Over the course of multiple development cycles, our team helped lead communications, messaging, and event production for five grand openings and two groundbreakings across the county, including Hattie Redmond Apartments Grand Opening, Fairfield Apartments Groundbreaking and Grand Opening, Hazel Ying Lee Apartments Grand Opening, Chaku Kəmtəks Haws Groundbreaking and Grand Opening, The T. Joyce Phillips Groundbreaking and Grand Opening.
Our approach emphasized authenticity and collaboration. We worked closely with Home Forward to articulate the narrative behind each project—why it mattered, whom it served, and how it addressed the region’s most pressing housing challenges. In partnership with Le Chevallier Strategies, we managed media outreach, program design, run-of-show development, speaker coordination, talking points, press kits, social content, and on-site execution.
Events were intentionally designed to reflect the communities they served. We partnered with organizations such as the Urban League of Portland, Native America Youth and Family Center, and Portland Community College, ensuring that culturally rooted partners had a strong presence and voice. Speakers included federal, state, and local elected officials; nonprofit and service partners; residents; and frontline staff. This multi-stakeholder approach helped the public see these developments not as abstract government projects, but as collective investments in stability, dignity, and long-term housing solutions.
Results
The coordinated communications strategy significantly increased public understanding and shifted media sentiment about Home Forward’s work. Over the span of six months, overall media tone transformed from shifting from 45% negative coverage to 76% neutral or positive, with negative coverage dropping to just 4%, driven in part by the visibility and clarity that these events generated. The openings and groundbreakings led to 25+ news stories, all neutral or positive in tone, including coverage in The Oregonian, OPB’s Think Out Loud, and local broadcast outlets.
One event—the opening of the Hattie Redmond Apartments—earned a Blue Pencil & Gold Screen Award from the National Association of Government Communicators, recognizing excellence in public-sector communications. More importantly, the events helped humanize affordable housing development, demonstrate transparency in the use of public funds, and rebuild trust with communities seeking real solutions to homelessness and housing scarcity.
Through thoughtful storytelling, strategic visibility, and strong partner engagement, these events became more than milestones—they became a way for Home Forward to show what progress looks like, establish credibility, and reframe public dialogue at a critical time for housing in the region.
Media Coverage
A 112-Year-Old Building in Downtown Portland Will Play a Key Role in Tackling Homelessness
Housing Bureau Expects to Exceed Unit Goals With 2016′s Bond Cash
Home Forward cuts ribbon on new affordable homes in Northeast Portland
Home on Any Budget: Your Guide to Portland’s Newest Affordable Housing Communities
New affordable housing community opens in Northeast Portland
FAQs
Why do grand openings and groundbreakings matter?
When designed strategically, these moments are far more than ceremonial. They are opportunities to explain how public dollars are being used, demonstrate accountability, humanize complex systems, and proactively shape public understanding and dispel myths and misinformation. For Home Forward, these events became a core tool for transparency, trust-building, and narrative change around affordable housing.
How can we address NIMBY concerns through communications?
This work addressed NIMBY concerns by focusing on clarity, context, and trust-building rather than reactive messaging. Instead of centering opposition voices, the communications strategy helped the broader community understand what was being built, who it served, and how projects fit into the region’s larger housing goals.
Messaging emphasized transparency, safety, community partnerships, and responsible use of public funds, while proactive media outreach ensured accurate, values-based narratives reached both residents and decision-makers. By pairing clear language with visible, well-run public events and trusted messengers, the approach reduced misinformation, lowered community anxiety, and created space for more constructive dialogue — even when concerns remained.
How do you ensure community voices are meaningfully included?
Inclusion goes beyond invitations. It means co-creating events with community-based partners, prioritizing language access, elevating residents and frontline staff, and ensuring cultural relevance in both messaging and format. Partnering with organizations like the Urban League of Portland, Native American Youth and Family Center, and Portland Community College ensured we were supporting the organization's work who already had credibility with the populations we were trying to serve.
What role does media strategy play in public-sector housing projects?
Media coverage shapes public perception long before projects are fully delivered. A proactive media strategy — including clear story framing, prepared spokespeople, and consistent messaging — can shift narratives from skepticism to understanding. In this case, coordinated media outreach helped move coverage from predominantly negative to overwhelmingly neutral or positive.
How do you measure success in public affairs and engagement work?
Success is measured through both qualitative and quantitative outcomes: media tone, volume of coverage, message consistency, stakeholder alignment, public understanding, and long-term trust. For Home Forward, success included a dramatic shift in media sentiment, national recognition for communications excellence, and stronger public understanding of affordable housing investments.
What can other housing agencies learn from this approach?
That visibility, clarity, and trust do not happen by accident. They require intentional strategy, disciplined messaging, and collaboration across partners. This work shows how public agencies can proactively lead the narrative — even in politically complex environments — by treating communications as a core part of project delivery, not an afterthought.