Best Practices

One goal of the New England Futures project is to identify existing projects in New England, or around the United States, that represent innovative and proven models for Growth and Affordable Housing. We invite you to submit projects that you believe represent a best practice in the area of growth and affordable housing to info@newenglandfutures.org.

Affordable Housing

Affordable Housing Awareness Campaigns
Affordable Housing Awareness Campaigns are currently active in five New England states:

  • home@last: Sponsored jointly by Citizens' Housing and Planning Association (CHAPA), the Home Builders Association of Massachusetts, and local communities..
  • HousingWorks RI: Supported by a coalition of more than 100 member organizations, institutions, corporations, agencies and advocates from around Rhode Island.
  • Housing Awareness Project: Sponsored by the New Hampshire Housing Finance Authority.
  • Reaching Home: Sponsored by The Partnership for Strong Communities in Connecticut.
  • Vermont Housing Awareness Campaign: An effort by a group of public- and private-sector interests in Vermont.
  • Workforce Housing Coalition: An education and advocacy program, Greater Seacoast region of New Hampshire and Maine, initiated by The Housing Partnership.
Affordable Housing and Open Space: Creative Partnerships for Success
This powerpoint presentation by the Citizens’ Housing and Planning Housing and Planning Association (CHAPHA) provides 13 case studies from around Massachusetts that prove affordable housing needs and open space protection can be addressed together. The communities highlighted are Lincoln: Battle Road Farm; Amherst: Cherry Hill Co-Housing, Misty Meadows; Easthampton: Whitebrook Farm; Norwell: Jacobs Pond; West Tisbury: Island Co-Housing; Northampton: Ryan Road, Westhampton Road, Garfield Avenue; Wayland: Paine Estate, Nike Site; Newton: Forte Property, Kesseler Woods.
Affordable Housing Design Advisor Gallery of High Quality Affordable Housing
The Gallery of High Quality Affordable Housing provides an introduction to some of the most exciting, well designed affordable housing projects in the United States. Case studies on the following New England-based projects are highlighted in the Gallery:

Burlington Community Land Trust
Right here in New England we have the first municipally-funded and the largest community land trust in the U.S. The Burlington Community Land Trust, with over 2,500 members, has won national and international acclaim (its co-director, Brenda Torpy, was invited to Windsor Castle) for its pioneering work in developing and maintaining perpetual affordable housing solutions for families in need in the Chittenden County region. BCLT provides a wide range of locally-controlled housing opportunities that help to revitalize neighborhoods. BCLT properties include over 270 rental apartments and 370 shared-appreciation single family homes and condominiums. Through its land stewardship, BCLT ensures that these properties will remain affordable. Most recently, BCLT won first place in the rental category of the The Home Depot Foundation's Inaugural Awards of Excellence For Affordable Housing Built Responsibly for its Waterfront Housing project in Burlington. To meet some of the organization's tenants and new homeowners and to see its projects, go to www.bclt.net.
Manufactured Housing Park Program
The Manufactured Housing Park Program is The New Hampshire Community Loan Fund’s oldest and most developed program, offering loans, technical assistance and development expertise in existing and new manufactured housing parks. Cooperative ownership puts control into the residents’ hands and, with access to less expensive financing, gives homeowners the chance to build equity and have long-term stability. Starting with the Meredith Center Cooperative formed in 1984, 69 manufactured housing parks are now owned by homeowners in the New Hampshire parks, and assisted by The Loan Fund.
Rhode Island Affordable Housing
For examples of Affordable Housing projects in Rhode Island, go to the Gallery of RI Affordable Housing section of the HousingWork RI's website.

Commercial and Industrial Development

New Models for Commercial and Industrial Development
In an effort to find ways to accommodate new growth that is sustainable and feasible, the Vermont Forum on Sprawl and the Vermont Business Roundtable have undertaken this New Models for Commercial and Industrial Development Project. The overall purposes of the project are to: 1) develop effective models for new commercial and industrial development that reinforce Vermont's policy for development in compact settlements separated by rural countryside; and 2) make recommendations on the ways in which these models can be implemented through policy changes, better planning, and incentives, while avoiding cumbersome regulatory changes.
Sustainable Devens
The redevelopment of the former Fort Devens, located in North Central Massachusetts, continues to balance economic, environmental and social equity issues as it seeks to replace the jobs lost during the realignment of this army base during the 1993 BRAC round. Learn more about this award winning sustainable development project and pioneer project in applying the principles of eco-industrial development at Devens.

Regional Cooperation

Action for Regional Equity (Action!)
Action for Regional Equity (Action!) is a coalition of 20 Massachusetts equity organizations united to address continuing disparities in affordable housing, transportation investment, and environmental justice-has developed strategies to address the critical development challenges facing the Commonwealth.
CenterEdge Project (Connecticut)
The CenterEdge Project is building a broad coalition to educate as many people as possible about disparities created by our long-term pattern of development in each metropolitan area of Connecticut. The Office of Urban Affairs of the Archdiocese of Hartford is the lead organization in this project, which is a partnership of religious, environmental, business, civil rights, educational, government and civic-minded organizations, as well as groups with a focus on housing and social services.
The Brookings Project: Linking Sprawl and the Economy
GrowSmart Maine is working with business, civic and conservation organizations to secure funding for a major study of the relationship between unplanned growth and sprawl, the growing cost of government and our ability to create and attract tomorrow's jobs.The study will done by the Brookings Institution of Washington, D.C. and will propose an Action Plan that will spell out how Maine can grow toward a more sustainable future. The report is scheduled for release in the fall of 2006.
Friends of Midcoast Maine
This award-winning organization includes interested citizens, land owners, farmers, city folks, members of local land trusts, town officials, and socially responsible business people. Concerned that unplanned growth is transforming the matchless Midcoast Maine communities, Friends of Midcoast Maine is determined to replace mindless sprawl with sensible growth.
HousingWorks Rhode Island
HousingWorks RI is a coalition, unprecedented in its breadth and depth, of more than 100 member organizations, institutions, corporations, agencies and advocates with the single goal of creating a Rhode Island where, once again, a decent home in a good neighborhood is within reach of any income. Housing Works is also a campaign, intended to end one crisis: the state’s severe shortage of quality affordable housing.
The InterValley Project
The InterValley Project (IVP) is a New England organizing network directed by its member organizations. They are the Granite State Organizing Project (GSOP), the Naugatuck Valley Project (NVP) in Connecticut, the Merrimack Valley Project (MVP) and the Pioneer Valley Project (PVP) in Massachusetts and the Rhode Island Organizing Project (RIOP). IVP is currently working with Maine religious, labor and community leaders to help them organize a sixth IVP-model organization. IVP offers a national model of community economic empowerment. Its regional organizations of congregations, labor union locals, community and tenant groups combine citizen organizing and democratic economic development strategies to save and create jobs, affordable housing and critical public services in some of the oldest and poorest industrial areas in the nation
MetroFuture: Making a Greater Boston Region
In 2002, the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) launched "MetroFuture: Making a Greater Boston Region", a unique, collaborative approach to develop a regional plan that addresses the challenges and opportunities we face as we plan for the future. MetroFuture will use public participation, data analysis and cutting-edge technology to create a vision for the metropolitan Boston region and a strategy to get us there.
Providence Plan
Founded in 1992 as a joint venture of the City of Providence, the State of Rhode Island, the academic community, and the private sector, The Providence Plan is a nonprofit corporation governed by a 14-member board of directors. ProvPlan was founded to achieve six principal goals: put people to work, retain the City's middle class, make our neighborhoods safe and livable, prepare today’s children for tomorrow’s jobs, provide decent and affordable housing, increase jobs and tax base in downtown Providence.
Upper Valley Housing Coalition
Recognizing that the extreme shortage of housing units in the Upper Valley of Vermont and New Hampshire threatens the strength of the regional economy and the high quality of life, the Upper Valley Housing Coalition was formed to increase the supply of diverse workforce housing in the region.  The Coalition works to promote a diversity of rental and ownership options that are affordable for all income groups.
Vermont Smart Growth Collaborative
A cooperative effort among ten diverse not for profit organizations in Vermont to foster a culture that supports a vision of compact settlements, separated by rural countryside with access for all Vermonters. VSGC has developed a scorecard for evaluating the state of Vermont’s progress with smart growth, a housing endorsement program to support housing projects around the state, and has played a major role in halting a bypass highway until adequate studies evaluating alternatives and growth impacts are completed.
Vital Communities for the Upper Valley
Vital Communities' agenda and programs emerge from, and are driven by, regional needs and community interests.  Vital Communities takes on issues where regional coordination and leadership can achieve results. As a neutral convener, Vital Communities brings diverse people and organizations together to devise and implement collaborative solutions.

Smart Growth

Downcity Providence
The State Historic Preservation Investment Tax Credit Program has proven to be a catalyst for the rehabilitation of the State of Rhode Island’s much neglected urban and town centers. One dramatic example of the program's success is the recent revitalization of a number of buildings purchased in the early 90’s with the vision of creating a vibrant residential neighborhood in Downcity Providence. Read the case study on Downcity Providence for more information.
Gilbert & Bennett Wire Mill in Redding, Connecticut
Georgetown Land Development has won prizes for its proposed redevelopment of the Gilbert & Bennett Wire Mill in Redding, Connecticut, including the EPA 2005 National Award for Smart Growth Achievement. The project seeks to revitalize economic activity in the Town of Redding as well as provide residents of the redevelopment and nearby towns with an enhanced quality of life. An important aspect of the vision is to create a mix of residences, retail establishments, office space, cultural attractions, and light manufacturing space in a dense yet attractive arrangement. Features such as trails, wide sidewalks, short blocks, and narrow streets will encourage people to walk around the neighborhood. The developer is building a commuter train station that will provide easy access to Manhattan. For more information, also view the Connecticut Center For Economic Analysis's economic impact study and this editorial in the Hartford Courant.
Massachusetts Office of Commonwealth Development
This extensive list describes smart growth best practices from towns and cities around Massachussets.
Massachusetts Smart Growth Case Studies
The Smart Growth Toolkit, produced by Horsley Witten Group for The Massachusetts Executive Office of Environmental Affairs, contains many Massachusetts case studies that illustrate a broad range of smart growth techniques.
Mashpee Commons (Massachusetts)
Mashpee Commons is sited near the geographical center of Mashpee, Massachusetts on Cape Cod. This area has been designated as the town's primary business district for over 30 years. In the 1980's, Arnold Chace and Douglas Storrs developed a plan to transform an existing strip shopping center into a traditional New England town center. This goal was a reaction to the "malling" of Cape Cod and reflected their sense of civic responsibility for appropriate development at the town's center. Development for this neighborhood began in 1986 and currently has over 90 tenants including a cinema, numerous restaurants and cafés, specialty and gifts shops and personal and business services. The Master Plan for Mashpee Commons will eventually result in a total of six interrelated neighborhoods, including 380 housing units and 462,000 square feet of retail, restaurants and offices. Approximately 65% of the land will be protected as open space.
No Kids on the Block
Vancouver's has led North America's urban renaissance, doubling its downtown population to 80,000 in just 15 year through its child-friendly city planning. Since 1990, Vancouver has built 27,000 inner-city housing units while more than tripling its child population to more than 4,000. Read more about Vancouver's efforts in the article, "No Kids on the Block," published in The Oregonian on July 7, 2005.
South Weymouth Naval Air Station (Massachusetts)
The South Weymouth Naval Air Station is a 1,450-acre site that was used by the Navy for aviation purposes from the 1940s until it was closed in 1997. The surrounding communities of Abington, Rockland and Weymouth have established the Village Center Plan, which was developed with valuable input from a wide range of community and public agency stakeholders. The plan provides a framework for a mixed-use and walkable community of livable neighborhoods and places. The development is carefully situated to preserve and enhance the existing wetlands, open space, and natural habitat areas. Complementing these natural areas are parks, public squares, shopping areas, open spaces, an array of recreational opportunities for each of the neighborhoods and the surrounding communities, and an integrated commercial district which will be the center of more than a 2,000–3,000 good-paying light industrial and high-tech jobs.
Vermont Neighborhoods Project
Vermont Neighborhoods Project is designing housing models on real parcels in order to demonstrate that development within or contiguous to already developed areas can provide high quality, desirable housing that enhances the existing community. Working with 3 communities in Addison County, the Vermont Neighborhoods Project team is creating site plans on 3 specific parcels that will try to a) meet the public's demand for housing while avoiding localized NIMBY reactions, b) generate profit for the developers and property owners, and c) fit the character of the community while providing mixed-use housing options. These designs will support downtown and village development that will help curb scattered developments that lead to sprawl. We will test the models for financial viability and regulatory compliance so they will have a realistic chance of being developed.
Winooski Falls, Vermont
After years of planning, the Winooski Falls project is underway in downtown Winooski. By the end of 2006, the Winooski downtown area will be transformed into a vibrant city center with an eclectic mix of residential, retail, parkland, and public space. In the new Winooski Falls you will be able to wake up each morning in a spacious, beautifully-appointed condo, shop and work right next to home and, at the end of the day, stroll down a lively Riverwalk to your favorite restaurant.

State Initiatives

Massachusetts Community Preservation Act (CPA)
The Community Preservation Act (CPA) is a new tool to help address three core community concerns: acquisition and preservation of open space; creation and support of affordable housing; and acquisition and preservation of historic buildings and landscapes. A minimum of 10% of the annual revenues of the fund must be used for each of the three core community concerns. The remaining 70% can be allocated for any combination of the allowed uses, or for land for recreational use. This gives each community the opportunity to determine its priorities, plan for its future, and have the funds to make those plans happen. The Community Preservation Act was signed by Governor Cellucci and Lieutenant Governor Swift on September 14, 2000.
Pennsylvania Acts 67 & 68 for Multi-Municipal Planning and Implementation
Acts 67 and 68 amend the Municipalities Planning Code (MPC) and enable counties and municipalities to take more control of their destiny by planning together for both development and conservation of resources. More than 180 multi-municipal panning initiatives are underway since Pennsylvania adopted its own smart growth legislation in June 2000.
Rhode Island Historic Preservation Tax Credit
The Rhode Island Historic Preservation Investment Tax Credit Program is returning historic properties to municipal tax rolls, generating employment and housing where they are most needed and leveraging substantial private investment that otherwise would not occur. the Rhode Island Historic Preservation Investment Tax Credit Program is returning historic properties to municipal tax rolls, generating employment and housing where they are most needed and leveraging substantial private investment that otherwise would not occur. For information about the benefits of the program, see also GrowSmartRI's website.
Vermont Division for Historic Preservation
The Division for Historic Preservation is the public agency designated to be the advocate for historic and prehistoric properties in Vermont. Through its Downtown Program, downtowns, village centers and new town centers are designated by the Vermont Downtown Board. With designation comes a variety of incentives for development in these locations, including tax credits, permit incentives and priority for state grants and technical assistance. There are 18 designated downtowns and 56 designated village centers.

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