Atlanta Affordable Housing Portal

I was the lead designer for a proposed affordable housing portal for the City of Atlanta. Over two weeks, I created screens for use in a pitch demonstrating the portal's proof of concept and key features. The project gained approval after being presented to Atlanta's Mayor, Andre Dickens.

Problem

There was no applicant facing system for affordable housing in Atlanta. This made it challenging for applicants to track their application, check unit availability, or assess their chances in lotteries. Applicants had to submit the same application multiple times for different units, while city employees struggled to ensure regulatory compliance for the growing number of units.

Housing infrastructure is growing with no way to manage it.

5,500+ Units

The amount of affordable housing units delivered since 2022.

8,500+ Applicants

Renter population placed in affordable housing units since 2022.

Solution

a single portal for all application needs

The proposed housing portal creates a single, central location for applicants to find and apply to lotteries, and manage their ongoing applications.

Find what fits your family

Applicants can browse available units by location and easily view details on number of available units, income requirements, and unit sizing.

Apply only once

Applicants provide information and documentation fir their income, background, and co-inhabitants. They can submit a single application through the portal that can be used to apply to many different lotteries.

know your odds

Applicants receive lottery recommendations based on their provided information so they can spend less time searching, and more time applying to units with high odds of approval.

manage active lotteries

City employees can review active, closed, or upcoming lotteries for compliance.

Research

Clarifying Expectations

I collaborated with project stakeholders from the city to clarify their expectations and ensure alignment on deliverables.

Initially, the request was for wireframes, but after further discussions, I realized they actually needed high-fidelity screens to effectively showcase the proof of concept.

Understanding that these deliverables were crucial for pitching the project and securing funding, I set clear deadlines and prioritized my work to meet the two-week timeline.

Desk Research

I worked closely with stakeholders to build an understanding of the lottery system. While I didn’t need to be an expert, it was important to grasp what information should be visible to applicants and what the key functionality of the portal is.

I also researched how other cities approached similar housing portals, including meeting with a leader from San Francisco's Dahlia portal to learn about the unique challenges they faced.

Expert insight was crucial since the target demographic is protected, and there wasn't enough time to conduct user research within the two-week timeline of this project.

Design

User Flows

Drawing from my research on other government housing portals and the feature requirements from stakeholders, I identified key user flows that offer a snapshot of an applicant's journey.

These flows helped define the essential interactions and touchpoints that needed to be prioritized in the portal.

Wireframing

I developed wireframes to outline key interactions and ensure that the most relevant content would be accessible to applicants at each stage of their journey.

I gathered feedback from city stakeholders to confirm the content and align on which screens required high-fidelity mockups before moving forward.

Prototyping

Lastly, I created high fidelity screens to demonstrate the portal's key functionality across various screens.

Multiple layout options were presented for stakeholder feedback, ensuring we could refine the design and make informed decisions before finalizing the visual direction.

Reflection

This project highlighted the importance of establishing a clear understanding of scope, priorities, and limitations with stakeholders from the outset. Creating a common language and aligning on the final deliverables was crucial for a smooth process. I also had to manage expectations, focusing on high-fidelity mockups for the pitch within a short time frame, without room for user feedback at this stage. To ensure future success, I documented key considerations for development, such as third-party vendor costs, and built flexible components to provide a strong foundation for future designers who may pick up the project.