Needham Housing Plan 2021

Needham Housing Plan

The Town of Needham has not had an approved Housing Plan in place since 2007, although it has made considerable progress in producing affordable housing since then, adding 894 new affordable units and surpassing the state affordability goal of 10%. Despite reaching this threshold, the Town recognizes that significant unmet housing needs remain in the community, particularly in the context of unprecedented housing prices and the pandemic. Consequently, the Town has determined that it should revisit its housing agenda by obtaining updated documentation on the local housing dynamic and preparing a Housing Plan to strategically address identified priority housing needs.

Working Group

The Planning Board has appointed a Working Group comprised of representatives from appropriate boards and committees to work with staff from the Planning and Community Development Department in overseeing community outreach and preparing the document.

Name	Board/Committee Representing
Emily Cooper	Citizen At Large
Ed Cosgrove	Board of Health
Natasha Espada	Planning Board
Carol Fachetti	Finance
Helen Gregory	Council On Aging
Heidi Frail	Select Board
Jeanne McKnight	Planning Board
Oscar Mertz	Citizen At Large
Marcus Nelson	Select Board
Mike O’Brien	School Committee
Ed Scheideler	Housing Authority
Rhonda Spector	Citizen At Large

Meetings of the working group are open to the public and will be held on Zoom (at least to begin, they could move to in-person). Agendas and minutes will be posted on the website.

To receive updates on Housing Plan Working Group meetings subscribe to the Housing Plan Working Group Notify Me . You may also email planning@needhamma.gov using the subject line “Housing Plan Working Group".