Persuasive Messaging for Housing: What Colorado’s Research Says
The Colorado Health Foundation (CHF) hosted a training on persuasive messaging for affordable housing. The Good Neighbor Guide by Wonder Strategies for Good was released by CHF and acts as a framework for persuasive messaging. Persuasive messaging matters right now more than ever because policies are changing and while there are many people with strong convictions for one side or the other, the fact remains the majority of people living their busy lives are stuck somewhere in the middle on issues. This isn’t a bad thing, it’s a tremendous opportunity for organizations, specifically mission-based nonprofits, to voice concerns and widespread education on important topics that will affect people’s everyday lives.
Colorado’s Research on Persuasive Housing Messaging
To back this framework there were advocacy advisory committees formed with over 3 thousand Coloradans in 34 focus groups to track shifts on core issues. The areas of curiosity addressed by the research included: Persuasive messaging to overcome fear, stigma, and prejudice; addressing flawed beliefs and nurturing compassion for Affordable Housing; communicating needs effectively, incorporating human-centered stories that avoid exploiting trauma or poverty; and how to message to broader audiences with a wide range of lived experiences and counteract opposition messaging.
Persuasion requires stepping into tension — both ours and our audience’s. Lean into discomfort and lead with curiosity.
I am interested in communicating more persuasively about housing to folks who might not yet be with us because I am passionate about the notion that all individuals deserve basic necessities, starting with housing. I know the significant difference stable housing can make from personal experience. Its important to acknowledge that persuasive writing is not for people who are adamantly against a cause or entirely value aligned to the cause because persuasive writing holds its power in potential, and with individuals who are middle of the road and could possibly sway your way. The main target are people who are conflicted about an issue.
This training is specifically relevant to my role as communications manager, as we reach the middle of Colorado Gives Day campaigning, because there is an art and a science to concise messaging for causes that so many people care about. Time spent on ineffective messaging has lost potential to make impact and real change in our communities. The time to get the messaging right is now.
How Heartwired Messaging Works
We learned that we have 2 sides to the brain we must acknowledge when persuading. The downstairs brain is more reactive and is in charge of our trauma and fight or flight responses. The upstairs brain is more proactive and takes time and planning for decision making. Our objective is to calm the downstairs brain so we can get across the message to the upstairs brain by finding commonalities. Empathy is the key to bringing those who are middle of the road over to one side because empathy is a precursor for compassion.
Empathy does not equal agreement.
The target audiences are individuals with a supportive base and conflicted empathy or concerned skeptics. Heartwiring refers to our emotions, identity, beliefs, values, and lived experiences. When there are conflicting heart wires there is potential to shift view.
Step 1 – calm the downstairs brain by building trust, acknowledging complexities, and calming concerns.
Step 2 – engage the upstairs brain by nurturing compassion and activating hope.
Build trust – establish trust to effectively communicate and connect with your audience. Trusted messengers are as important as the message. Feel the message, connect personally, speak to motivations and values, show expertise but not jargon.
Acknowledge Complexities: demonstrate that you are aware of the complexities of the issues and the concerns that audiences may have. Acknowledge concerns and address them. You can’t change past experiences, but you can make new meaning of those experiences.
Calm concerns – address the powerful emotions that audiences may experience on these issues by modeling how to manage their internal conflicts. Help audiences practice emotional regulation as naming what they are experiencing as innately human.
Nurture compassion – show audiences the harm caused by lack of proposed policies – and why they should care. Tell stories about all kinds of experience levels.
Activate hope – spotlight effective programs and policies to inspire optimism and hope. Highlight real-world stories, mix personal stories with facts of impact, don't overstate, and end the message on a positive note.
Putting the Framework Into Practice
Why I Work in Affordable Housing
I work in affordable housing because I believe everyone deserves a safe, stable place to call home.
I grew up in Park Hill, a vibrant, multicultural neighborhood in Denver. Over the years, I’ve watched that same neighborhood transform, where once $400,000 homes now sell for over $1 million. I went away to school, only to return and find that the place I called home may no longer be within reach.
This isn’t just my story, it’s a reality that many Coloradans face. From mountain towns where local workers are being priced out, to city neighborhoods lacking diverse housing options, our communities are grappling with a growing demand for homes that everyday people can afford.
It's understandable to worry about changing neighborhoods and rising housing costs. But across Colorado, nonprofit organizations like the organization I work for, Rocky Mountain Communities, are working hard to preserve existing housing and create new affordable homes that serve a wide range of residents—not marginalizing people further, but opening doors to stability and opportunity.
The people who qualify for these homes are our neighbors, our teachers, our baristas, our essential workers—the very people who keep our communities running. When they aren’t spending over half their income on housing, they’re able to shop locally, care for their families, and help our local economies thrive.
Everyone deserves the dignity of moving through each day without the impossible choice between rent and other basic needs. Affordable housing isn’t just about structural buildings, it’s about the act of building brighter futures for all of us.
My story is just one example of how this framework comes to life. It starts with trust, sharing my personal connection to my community and why these issues matter to me. It acknowledges the complexity of skyrocketing home prices and the displacement many Coloradans face. It calms concerns by highlighting that organizations across the state are actively working to protect affordability and expand access. It nurtures compassion by centering everyday people, our neighbors, our teachers, our essential workers, rather than “othering” those who qualify for affordable homes. And it ends by activating hope: a reminder that when we invest in affordable housing, we invest in stability, opportunity, and a stronger Colorado for all of us.
As I continue refining this piece, especially the “hope” component, I plan to share more about how the organization I work for is making a tangible impact right now. Stay tuned for an updated post, and see if you can spot how each pillar of the framework shows up in the story.
