The Latest from CommunityScale
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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…
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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…
