The Latest from CommunityScale
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Which places have the best cost burden performance?
Working on housing needs assessments across the country, CommunityScale is often asked which places lead in keeping cost burden low, so this post sets out to answer. Measuring cost burden as the share of…
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General Code and CommunityScale sign a partnership agreement
CommunityScale takes pride in its strong partnerships with various businesses and organizations. Together, we combine our skills and technologies creatively to tackle the unique and significant challenges faced by communities, striving for innovative solutions.…
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An empirical approach to quantifying and modeling housing preferences
To be truly actionable, a good housing study depends on a detailed and nuanced model of housing market trends. The most effective approach focuses on modeling housing preferences to predict the choices local households…
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Having an impact on Massachusetts Housing Appeals Committee decisions as a witness
CommunityScale has appeared as an expert witness before the Massachusetts Housing Appeals Committee four times, each ending in a positive outcome for building affordable housing, including the Medford DIV-Fellsway decision. The testimony centered on…
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North Attleboro Mixed Use Zoning
CommunityScale partnered with the Town of North Attleboro to update its downtown zoning, add a mixed-use overlay along its primary commercial corridor, and bring the town into compliance with the Massachusetts MBTA Communities law.…
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How CommunityScale forecasts households by income group
Forecasting future household income distribution is one of the most important and least understood steps in a housing needs assessment, and this post shows how CommunityScale does it. Using the ACS B19001 dataset, illustrated…
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Central Indiana Regional Housing Study
Communities across the Indianapolis metropolitan area needed a shared, current picture of their housing landscape to plan and collaborate more effectively. Working in partnership with Stantec Urban Places, CommunityScale completed a regional housing study…
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A new way to conduct and share housing needs assessments
CommunityScale is changing how housing needs assessments are delivered, replacing static reports with affordable, data-driven analyses presented as interactive websites. The approach makes findings easier to explore, share, and act on for communities and…
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Malden MBTA Communities zoning
CommunityScale worked with City of Malden staff and the City Council to bring the city into compliance with the Massachusetts MBTA Communities law, one of twelve rapid-transit communities required to comply by the end…
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Design Lewiston Guidelines
CommunityScale team members led the Design Lewiston Guidelines, a framework to shape a Lewiston, Maine that is attractive, functional, and community-oriented. Serving as a how-to manual for projects in site plan review, the guidelines…
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Zoning
Complete rewrite of existing zoning code with or without map amendments. CommunityScale focuses on compliance with enabling legislation, legibility, and achieving community goals through the rezoning process.
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CommunityScale under contract to manage Everett’s rezoning
CommunityScale led City of Everett’s recodification project to craft a new zoning ordinance and zoning map for the Massachusetts city. The engagement set out to modernize an outdated code in line with the mayor’s…
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Everett Recodification
CommunityScale led the complete rezoning of Everett, Massachusetts with Stantec’s Urban Places and BBHS Law, modernizing an outdated code to deliver the mayor’s vision of a walkable, mixed-use city. The work addressed mobility, new…
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Tracking how truly unaffordable housing has become in the US
For the first time in years, the median household income is not enough to afford a median-priced home, and not even close. For most of the past decade, home prices and household incomes rose…
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Win for affordable housing in court supported by our analysis
CommunityScale’s Nels Nelson and Sarabrent McCoy supported the proponent of an affordable housing development in North Reading, Massachusetts, before the state’s Housing Appeals Committee, which ruled in the developer’s favor. The team’s expert testimony…
