The Affordable Housing Design Advisor has been developed to help anyone involved in the production of affordable housing achieve higher design quality. It is full of useful - and usable - information that can be accessed in a variety of ways.

Browse through any time to find:

• information about the essential issues of design in affordable housing, especially in the What is Good Design? and Why is Design Important? Sections,

• ideas and examples of great affordable housing, especially in the Gallery which is a collection of developments all over the country with information about each project,

• the Design Considerations Checklist where key design issues and principles - focusing specifically on the special challenges of affordable housing - are discussed in detail, with a wealth of examples,

• Mini-Lectures where experienced experts in various fields of the design and development of affordable housing give quick, targeted overviews of important issues.

For a detailed, practical guide to the design/development process, zero in on:

• the 20 Steps to Design Quality: a systematic, detailed procedure for making sure that excellent design is built into every step of the development and that key design opportunities are taken advantage of - all firmly in the context of real-world development concerns.

When you begin working on a specific project, print out and use:

• the Project Book, a design-focused workbook that gives you a simple, effective way to collect all the information you will gather through the tools and activities provided at every step of the design process. When you print out and complete the forms and checklists in each step (in PDF format) and collect them into your own customized Project Book, you will have a powerful resource for getting funding, gaining support, controlling your project, protecting design standards, managing schedule and cost, and finally operating and maintaining the final building(s)

And congratulations, for being part of the solution to America's critical affordable housing challenge!

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