The City of Lafayette was able to facilitate fact-based conversations with community members about the tradeoffs, opportunities and impacts regarding where future residential growth should occur by using Balancing Act’s simulation tool to transform public input beyond basic responses to constructive problem solving. In 2020, the Bay Area City of Lafayette initiated a four-year, multi-platform public outreach effort to update the City’s General Plan. They started by tackling the tough topic of housing. The Balancing Act interactive tool (along with other efforts) provided residents with insights about the physical parameters, legal requirements, aspirational goals, and so on that planners and elected officials need to consider regarding housing density, etc. The tool improved the real-world decision-making process for this complex topic. Lafayette Staff worked with Balancing Act to design a new map-based simulation to allow residents to give their input about where new homes could go and give planners much-needed quantitative data. This innovation was then made available to more than 25 other California cities to use in their housing element update process. This session is for anyone interested in community engagement around the tough topic of planning for more housing and will include a demo of the interactive tool.