CommunityScale designs and deploys community housing surveys to capture resident experience, preferences, and priorities at scale. Surveys complement the quantitative analysis (Census, CoStar, HUD, Zillow) with lived experience and forward-looking preferences — the two pieces of information that don’t come from administrative data.

Surveys are always methodologically transparent: the instrument, recruitment, response counts, and analysis approach are documented in the deliverable so findings are defensible at public meetings and in adoption hearings.

Instrument design

• Housing experience — current unit adequacy, cost burden, commute, life-stage fit.
• Housing preferences — tenure (rent/own), type (single-family, townhouse, ADU, apartment, condo), size, location, amenities.
• Affordability and trade-offs — willingness-to-pay, commute/cost trade-offs.
• Barriers to moving or staying — supply, price, age, disability, family change.
• Community-specific questions co-developed with the client and stakeholder panels.

Deployment

• Online-first (typed responses + closed-ended questions; mobile-optimized).
• In-person at public meetings, workshops, pop-ups, community events.
• Paper backup for low-broadband populations.
• Multi-language translations where the community requires.
• Client-led distribution through municipal channels, partner organizations, newsletters, social media.

Analysis and reporting

• Response counts by segment (age, tenure, household type, geography).
• Cross-tabulation against the HNA’s demographic forecasts and local AMI brackets.
• Qualitative coding of open-ended responses.
• Weighted results (when representativeness permits).
• Verbatim quotes for report callouts.
• Integration with the project dashboard for long-tail viewing.