Self-assessment: Development Capacity

About this assessment

To be a successful housing developer, it is important that you understand your organization’s capacity to develop—your strengths and areas where you will need support or partnership. The development process can be long, and operating a property will extend far into the future. In other words, developing housing represents a significant decision and investment for your organization. Are you ready?

This self-assessment will help you identify areas of existing capacity and areas where additional support or partnership may be needed relative to organizational capacity, development experience, and external relationships.

This assessment is organized into two parts. The first part is a brief survey intended to highlight your organizational strengths, along with any potential gaps to address. Your responses will be automatically organized into the second part of this assessment: a SWOT framework. You can add additional information or context and further strategize ways to use your organizational strengths or minimize external threats or internal weaknesses directly in the framework.

Assessing your organization’s strengths

Consider each statement and rate how closely it describes your organization, past development experience, and external relationships. Note that not all questions will be relevant for all organizations or development models. For example, if you already own the parcel you are planning to develop, relationships with property owners may not be relevant. Or your organization may not have a board of directors to consider. Mark “Not applicable” for any questions that do not apply to you.

For questions that ask about staffing, this can refer to either in-house or contract staff. It does not refer to staff that you may need to hire for your project team.

Question Content

SWOT Matrix

In the matrix below, consider your organizational strengths. Add any other information to SWOT categories, if you’d like. Use the questions to brainstorm ways to better align your organizational strengths with any other project needs.