The Latest from CommunityScale
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CommunityScale in the news: Hilliard, OH housing plan open house
Local coverage captures strong community engagement as Hilliard, Ohio works through its housing study, with residents attending the first public meeting to give feedback on the city’s comprehensive housing needs assessment. With Hilliard’s population…
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West Natick Mixed-Use Zoning Support
CommunityScale partnered with the Town of Natick to analyze and visualize zoning reforms for the West Central Corridor along Route 135. We developed detailed test fits accounting for complex topography, calculating development potential including…
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Our approach to open source mapping
Like many planners and geospatial professionals, the CommunityScale team grew curious about alternatives to Esri’s ArcOnline platform. While Esri offers a full suite of products, some clients worried about the performance of embedded maps,…
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CommunityScale kicks off comprehensive rezoning for Lowell, MA
The City of Lowell has selected CommunityScale to lead a citywide comprehensive zoning rewrite, building on the firm’s earlier work on Lowell’s transit-oriented multifamily overlay zone. The process begins with an audit of the…
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CommunityScale in the news: Johnson County looks to expand its non-metro area, while balancing growth
Local coverage follows CommunityScale’s housing study for Johnson County, Iowa as the county weighs expanding its non-metro area while balancing growth. The study, underway since April, has included a series of public meetings and…
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Housing Library
Many communities are searching for ways to create housing that is both attainable and in keeping with the character of existing neighborhoods, and the challenge often lies in the gap between large apartment complexes…
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CommunityScale in the news: Study and forthcoming report analyzes needs and impacts in small towns and rural areas
Local coverage examines CommunityScale’s study for Johnson County, Iowa and its forthcoming report on housing needs and impacts in small towns and rural areas. Speaking to attendees, co-founding principal Jeff Sauser explained the multi-faceted…
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Working with household income, HUD Income Limits, MFI, and AMI
CommunityScale uses HUD’s Income Limits as an anchor for grouping households into income tiers when identifying income-aligned and affordable housing demand. But several key terms and methods are embedded in those limits, including Median…
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Muskogee Comprehensive Housing Study
The City of Muskogee, Oklahoma wanted to catalyze new housing development and reverse years of population decline. CommunityScale completed a Comprehensive Housing Study for the City’s Economic Development Department to assess current housing conditions,…
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CommunityScale in the news: New study says rural Johnson County towns need 950 new homes to meet rising demand
Local coverage of CommunityScale’s 2025 Johnson County, Iowa Housing Assessment Study reports that a smattering of rural towns need nearly 1,000 new homes to keep up with demand over the next decade. The study…
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Housing shortage and equilibrium calculations
How big is the housing shortage, and how is it actually calculated? This post examines housing shortage methodologies through the lens of a recent whitepaper by Moody’s Analytics and its partners on the national…
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Stowe Housing Needs Assessment
CommunityScale worked closely with the Stowe Housing Task Force, town staff, and local stakeholders to analyze the housing market, gauge local needs, and develop a strategic action plan to increase year-round housing options for…
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Housing fingerprint visualizer
CommunityScale collaborated with artist Roni Kaufman, who used code to visualize housing data in a new way. The work explores three key metrics for a community: the relative share of housing by structure type,…
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Downtown Syracuse Housing Needs Assessment and Market Study
This project produced a comprehensive analysis of the Downtown Syracuse housing market, offering data-driven insights based on current conditions, demographic shifts, long-term trends, and economic factors like the Micron development and I-81 project. The…
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Sherborn Multifamily Zoning Overlay
Like many small Massachusetts towns, Sherborn needed to comply with the state’s MBTA Communities zoning mandate while crafting a solution that fit its rural character. CommunityScale supported the Town of Sherborn with a multifamily…
