The Latest from CommunityScale
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Growth is a choice: How housing demand and policy interact to shape the future
While long-term projections may suggest demand is strong and growth is inevitable, often the only way to realize this change is through municipal action with public support. As such, to be useful for practical…
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2024 is a busy year for the MBTA Communities Zoning Law in Massachusetts
Of the 177 Massachusetts communities required by the MBTA Communities law to adopt a by-right multifamily district, 130 faced a 2024 deadline, with twelve due in 2023 and the remaining 35 in 2025. CommunityScale…
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CommunityScale begins Housing Needs Assessment for the City of Alexandria, VA
CommunityScale has begun work on a Housing Needs Assessment for Alexandria, Virginia, a foundational step toward updating the City’s 2013 Housing Master Plan. A great deal has changed since that plan was written, but…
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Thoughts on how Everett became a housing boomtown in the Boston area
A Boston Globe article showed how Everett permitted housing at the fastest rate in Greater Boston, adding 16 percent more housing units between 2015 and 2021. Much of that growth took shape in the…
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CommunityScale joins MHP to assist the Town of Wakefield with MBTA Communities compliance
CommunityScale and the Massachusetts Housing Partnership (MHP) have entered into an agreement to provide technical assistance to the Town of Wakefield for MBTA Communities compliance. Our collaboration with MHP and Wakefields builds on our…
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Dedham MBTA Communities Zoning
CommunityScale worked with the Town of Dedham’s staff and Planning Board to craft MBTA Communities compliant zoning, one of 175 Massachusetts communities subject to the law because three commuter rail stations sit within its…
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CommunityScale writing MBTA Communities zoning for Town of Duxbury
The Town of Duxbury has selected CommunityScale to support its pursuit of compliance with the Massachusetts MBTA Communities Law, known as 3A. CommunityScale will draft multi-family zoning for the South Shore town of 16,000…
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CommunityScale kicks off a housing needs assessment in Fall River, Massachusetts
CommunityScale has kicked off a comprehensive housing market analysis for Fall River, Massachusetts as part of the Route 79-Davol Street Corridor Improvements project, a transformative initiative to reshape the city’s waterfront. The corridor work…
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Rhode Island Housing Needs Assessments
To help its diverse municipalities confront mounting affordable housing challenges, RIHousing, Rhode Island’s housing finance agency, created a technical assistance program connecting communities with tailored consulting resources. CommunityScale partnered with Stantec Urban Places on…
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City of Lynn selects CommunityScale for zoning overhaul
The City of Lynn, Massachusetts selected CommunityScale to lead its comprehensive Zoning Code Rewrite, an initiative to modernize the city’s regulations in line with the Vision Lynn comprehensive plan and state law. The project…
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How to measure market demand with targeted housing market analysis
Gauging demand for new market-rate housing can be difficult, especially in communities where such development is not yet common. This post introduces CommunityScale’s targeted housing market analysis, an approach designed to help communities identify…
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Housing needs assessments for three Kentucky Buffalo Trace counties
CommunityScale completed housing needs assessments for Bracken, Mason, and Robertson Counties, three rural counties in Kentucky’s Buffalo Trace Area Development District. Each assessment gave its county a clear, data-driven picture of current and projected…
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El Paso Downtown + Uptown & Surrounding Neighborhoods Plan
El Paso’s downtown and uptown had not experienced the commercial and housing growth bringing vitality and economic diversification to peer cities. The City of El Paso Capital Improvement Department worked with Nels Nelson to…
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Malden adopts MBTA Communities Zoning
CommunityScale worked with the City of Malden to craft compliant zoning for the Massachusetts MBTA Communities requirement, and the City Council adopted it on December 12, 2023. The Planning Board had recommended the zoning…
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Housing Needs Assessment for Harrison County, Kentucky
CommunityScale completed a housing needs assessment for Harrison County and the City of Cynthiana, Kentucky, built around goals set with local leadership: accelerate moderate growth, preserve and expand attainable housing, and accommodate all housing…
