Barnstable Regional Housing Strategy

Utile and Outwith Studio worked with the Cape Cod Commission to develop a regional housing strategy to address housing supply and affordability issues by identifying areas for housing development and articulate policies and actions to increase housing production.

The team engaged in extensive research including a zoning analysis, a housing preference survey with over 2,000 participants, and a robust series of housing entities interviews. The research uncovered key insights into how housing is developed on the Cape, who are the people and entities actually delivering units, what needs they have and constraints they see, what opportunities they hope to pursue, what are the limitations of existing financial tools, and what role there might be for a regional entity facilitating development.

This project delivered recommendations for tackling housing challenges on Cape Cod, including recommendations for regional affordable housing entities, housing finance tools, and development of engaging and accessible residential design guidelines for multifamily development and net-zero construction.