Post-Occupancy Evaluations for Affordable Housing Design

Why It Matters

POEs turn resident experiences into actionable design data, enabling affordable‑housing projects to become safer, healthier, and more cost‑effective over their lifespan.

Key Takeaways

• Post‑occupancy evaluations (POEs) reveal resident comfort gaps in affordable housing.
• Residents prioritize fresh air and acoustic control over mechanical HVAC systems.
• Poor stair placement and dead‑end corridors reduce perceived safety.
• POE insights can guide both immediate amenity tweaks and long‑term design standards.
• Systematic POE data builds institutional knowledge, preventing repeat design mistakes.

Summary

The Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies hosted a round‑table on post‑occupancy evaluations (POEs) for affordable housing, a key component of its upcoming State of Housing Design 2027 book. Panelists from architecture firms and nonprofit developers shared findings from recent POEs on multifamily projects across the United States, emphasizing how resident feedback can extend the architect’s role beyond construction.

The discussion highlighted five survey categories—comfort and performance, unit functionality, amenity use, retention and longevity, and an abstract sense of home. Data from projects like 222 Taylor in San Francisco showed residents repeatedly opened windows for fresh air despite noise, underscoring the importance of acoustic and air‑quality control. In Portland’s 72 Foster, a dead‑end stair corridor and underused community space sparked safety concerns, revealing how circulation design directly impacts perceived security.

Panelists quoted specific surprises: Katie Aerly noted that “airflow and perceived freshness are far more critical to occupants than temperature alone,” while Corey Hobbecker observed that “budget‑driven stair placement erodes resident confidence in safety.” These anecdotes illustrate how qualitative POE insights surface issues that technical metrics alone miss.

The broader implication is clear: systematic POE collection creates a cumulative knowledge base that can steer both short‑term adjustments—like window‑opening policies or amenity scheduling—and long‑term design standards for affordable housing. By integrating resident experience into design loops, architects, developers, and funders can avoid repeating mistakes, improve livability, and ultimately deliver more resilient, community‑focused housing solutions.

Original Description

The role of the architect in affordable housing design typically ends at completion. Construction finishes, residents move in, and designers move on to other projects. But what happens next? How do those funding, designing, building, and operating affordable housing know if their buildings work for residents?

Post-Occupancy Evaluation (POE) offers a way to move beyond design intent and assess real-world performance, including through resident engagement. But formal POEs remain rare, inconsistent, and difficult to fund within the US housing system. This webinar brings together a panel of architects and nonprofit developers who have completed or are in the midst of POEs of affordable housing projects. In a series of short presentations and a conversation to follow, speakers will examine how resident-centered POEs are conducted today and how they might be embedded more systematically in the delivery and management of affordable housing.

Panelists:

Architects:

Katie Ackerly, David Baker Architects (California)

Regina Chen, MASS Design Group (Massachusetts)

Jessica Goswick, Architects FORA (California)

Cory Hawbecker, Holst (Oregon)

Developer/Manager:

Jake Rosen, Resources for Community Development (California)

Moderator:

Aaron Smithson, Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies (New York)