Why Conduct Housing Studies?
Effective decision-making and planning are dependent upon valid and reliable information. Federal and state granting agencies require accurate survey/assessment data to authorize funding for projects vital to communities, cities, and counties of all sizes.
Businesses are increasingly looking at features such as housing quality, availability, and affordability for their workers when selecting new site locations. With up-to-date housing information, site selectors can accurately evaluate your community, city, and/or county as being acceptable for their labor force and, consequently, locate their operations in your area.

With correct and accurate housing information, public officials can correctly determine housing needs and trends, and can apply scarce public funds in an efficient and effective manner.

What Information can a Housing Study Provide?
You can gather the following kinds of information when the Docking Institute conducts a housing assessment and survey of your community, city, and/or county:
• assess the availability of various types of housing (i.e., single family, apartments, duplexes, condos, etc.) in your region of interest;
• measure the availability of housing for elderly and special-needs residents, and determine the general quality of housing for all residents of your region;
• calculate the costs of different types of available housing, and estimate whether housing is affordable to the residents in your area;
• evaluate recent construction and building trends of various housing types, and determine if barriers to access exist for some residents;
• map local infrastructure and land availability with Geographic Information System software;
• use new Bureau of the Census data to provide census tract information for your area of interest; and
• measure the perceptions of residents about the quality, availability, and affordability of housing in your community, city, or county.

How can you use Housing Study information?
The availability of affordable and high quality housing is vital to the existence and future development of communities, cities, and counties. If you are a decision-maker, planner, or analyst in a governmental or nonprofit entity, you can use Housing Study information to:
• obtain state and federal grants and other funding to assist with your community’s, city’s, or county’s housing needs;
• evaluate the availability of housing for elderly and special-needs residents in your region of interest;
• attract new businesses to your community by providing them with information about housing for workers;
understand housing market trends, construction costs, infrastructure, land availability, barriers to housing, and private and public financing; and/or determine housing construction trends to assist with public works and utilities planning

Custom Services
The Docking Institute works with you to develop a housing study that is tailored to meet your specific needs and concerns. Professional services provided by the Institute’s University Center for Survey Research (UCSR) include the development of a questionnaire/ research protocol, sampling, telephone or self-administered (mail) surveys, fieldwork, interviewing, analysis of data, report writing, report presentation, and a time frame allowing for the successful completion of the project.

Information gathered and analyzed by professional staff members can provide a valuable resource in you city planning and development efforts. We provide final reports in both text and electronic formats, and the Director of the Institute or our research scientists can make public presentations of our findings. This resource can be used to assist decision-makers that will affect your programs and operations.

Cost of Services and Contact
A custom proposal and cost estimate is available upon request at no cost. Contact Mike Walker of the University Center for Survey Research.