Housing Plans and Studies
10-Year Housing Action Plan
The Town of Orleans Housing Action Plan was prepared by JM Goldson Community Preservation + Planning in collaboration with the Affordable Housing Committee, Affordable Housing Trust Board, and the Orleans Planning Department between April and December 2023.
Community input was sought through four focus groups and a survey of all who live, work, attend school, or are interested in housing in Orleans. Summaries of the results of the focus groups and survey can be found at:
A community forum was held on September 7 at the Snow Library, Craine Room, at 6 pm.
A presentation on the draft Ten-Year Housing Plan was made to the Select Board on November 29, 2023.
The consultant submitted its final report to the Town on January 4, 2024, including a Ten-Year Housing Plan (December 21, 2023) and a Ten-Year Plan Executive Summary (December 21, 2023).
A joint meeting of the Affordable Housing Committee and the Affordable Housing Task Force was held on June 18 to discuss the proposed Action Plan, draft Definitions for Housing Targets. The two committees agreed to recommend that the Select Board adopt housing production targets of 350 total units, including 200 missing middle housing units and 150 affordable housing units, as defined. One revision was made to the Definitions for Housing Targets. The committees endorsed the Action Plan presented and agreed to start to implement the Ten-Year Housing Plan.
MISSING MIDDLE HOUSING: In 2024 the Town of Orleans adopted new Housing Targets for 350 total new housing units added in fiscal years 2025-2034. Of that total, 200 are for missing middle housing as contrasted to the other 150 units which are to be affordable housing units. Missing middle housing is a housing type, without regard to the income of the occupants. The 200 units are anticipated to be in moderate-density multi-family structures, either mixed with commercial uses or in residential apartment structures, and located primarily in Orleans’ Village Center, connected to the public sanitary sewer system. The relationship of missing middle housing to financial accessibility is well established in the history of development in the U.S. and extensively discussed in the planning literature. For more information on missing middle housing, click here.