This guidebook was designed to assist mayors, local officials, community activists, community-based organizations, and other aging and housing advocates in developing a framework to measure elderly housing needs and to develop a systematic strategy for assisting the elderly in their city with choices in suitable and affordable living arrangements. Chapter 1, An Overview of Elderly Housing, provides an overview of the demographics of the aging population and their housing needs by examining differences between owners and renters, the issue of housing affordability, and the impact of changing health on housing. Chapter 2, Planning for Elderly Housing, discusses general housing characteristics, current and future, as well as elderly housing needs as part of the planning process. Chapter 3, Getting Started: Tools and Techniques, describes census and other data and reference materials, and techniques for using existing data to identify characteristics of the city's elderly population. Chapter 4, Techniques to Assess Elderly Housing Needs, describes special housing considerations of the elderly and methods for measuring degree of elderly housing needs in the community. Methods for assessing the elderly's health and wealth, their living expenses, the compatibility of neighborhoods, and the suitability of the housing unit are described. Chapter 5, Expanding Choices in Living Arrangements, describes some of the emerging alternative living arrangements for older persons. Chapter 6, Developing a Community Strategy for Elderly Housing, addresses strategies which a community may take to respond to elderly housing needs. Sixteen sections of the appendices include: major programs of the Department of Housing and Urban Development to assist the elderly; state property tax programs for the elderly; and sample calculation for estimating the housing tenure (owner/renter) of elderly occupied units. (NB)