6 Ways to Counter Public Opposition to Your Assisted Living Project.
Local Politics
Planning Commission and City Council Members do not want to be unpopular. Regardless of their education and professional experiences, we have seen commission and council members bend to perceived public opposition. So, if you have heard that some of your neighbors may be opposed to your assisted living project, you can be certain that these neighbors will show up to the meeting with opposition letters, and signature petitions.
Signing a petition or opposition list is thin evidence that groups of people feel strongly about your project. Nonetheless, this sort of opposition evidence can be very persuasive to a City Council or Planning Commission member. Such letters and petitions become more persuasive when accompanied by hot tempered email and social media posts. Presented with the appearance of large social opposition, many council and commission members will choose to take the path of least resistance, setting aside public policy goals and legal obligations and propriety to avoid the immediate negative views from the public, their neighbors.
What can you do about this?
Politicians are not unusually courageous, or unusually cowardly. They are normal people that want to do what is right for their neighbors, but they don’t want to be reviled for their efforts. If you have an assisted living project in the approval process, you need to help the commissioners and council members see that they will not severely punished if they support your project.
The strength of your legal foundations is critical, and must be included in your presentations and document submittals. But you must also help the commissioners feel socially safe.
Here is a short list of things you can do strengthen the courage of your council and commission members:
Make sure you have all the legal and technical points covered in the documents you have submitted. There are a number of Fair Housing Act points that you should include in your submittal. (We discuss those here.)
Bring your supporters. Bring as many people as you can who are willing to be present on your behalf in the public meetings.
Have your supporters arrive early and take up as much space in the room as possible. Spread them out in the room so it is difficult for the opposition to cluster in groups. This will also reduce the courage of the opposition group.
Have signs for your supporters to hold in the meeting and outside the meeting room. You can be sure that the opposition will organize signs. To counter their impact, you need to show that ratio of people who support your project is not overwhelmed by those that seem to oppose your project.
Organize people among your supporters to speak at the meeting. Most meeting will allow at least 2-3 minutes for speakers. Your goal is to show that people support your project.
Organize letter writing and petition signing campaigns. The opposition has petitions and letters can - you should have petitions and letters from your supporters.
You chose to get into this business to help disabled seniors and may be surprised at the irrational and emotional responses that can show up in such processes. Try not to take it personal, and remain gracious. It is very likely some of those neighbors will be your residents in the future.
We have experience preparing and presenting at public meetings at nearly every level of government in the U.S. and around the world. Contact us to discuss how we can help.