The Latest from CommunityScale
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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…
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Nesting zoning use definitions into functional groups
Comprehensive zoning rewrites risk overwhelming users with lists of hundreds of land use definitions, many of them nearly identical in how they are applied across districts. To avoid that while keeping a useful level…
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CommunityScale in the news: Lone Tree and Hills housing expansion emerges in JoCo housing study
Local coverage highlights preliminary findings from CommunityScale’s housing study for Johnson County, Iowa, which point to Lone Tree and Hills as top candidates for new development thanks to existing water and sewer capacity. The…
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Apex Housing Plan Update
CommunityScale updated the Town of Apex’s Housing Plan to reflect the significant changes in the economy, shifts in the local market, and rapid growth experienced since the pandemic. The project included a housing needs…
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CommunityScale in the news: Lynn Council votes to ‘modernize’ zoning regulations
Lynn’s City Council has voted unanimously to adopt the comprehensive zoning rewrite CommunityScale led for the city. The sweeping overhaul replaces a 1925 code with modern standards aligned to the Vision Lynn 2023 plan,…
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City of Lynn Comprehensive Zoning Rewrite
CommunityScale authored a complete zoning rewrite for the City of Lynn, Massachusetts with Levine Planning Strategies and BBHS Law, adopted unanimously by the City Council on June 24, 2025. A technical audit found that…
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Kenton County Selects CommunityScale to Deliver Income-Aligned Housing Implementation Strategies and Action Plan
Building on CommunityScale’s 2023 housing study, Kenton County has awarded the firm a contract to prepare its Income-Aligned Housing Implementation Strategies and Action Plan. The work translates the goals of the county’s 2024 Comprehensive…
