Town of Brewster Massachusetts 2022-2027 Housing Production Plan
The Town of Brewster hired Barrett Planning Group LLC to update their 2017 Housing Production Plan (HPP) in January 2022. Over a six-month period, our team collaborated closely with Town staff and the Brewster Housing Partnership to develop a plan that outlined realistic strategies for addressing Brewster’s unique housing challenges as a coastal community with an increasing demand for seasonal and short-term rentals, sensitive environmental concerns, and a seemingly growing household income gap.
We grounded the plan’s development by centering our community engagement around:
- The state’s required framework for HPPs under Chapter 40B
- Progress the Town made in implementing the 2017 HPP
- Changes in demographic and market trends — and resulting housing needs — at the local and regional level
- Feedback from the community, including those experiencing housing instability themselves and those who work directly with households requiring assistance
- The HPP’s relationship to other local and regional planning efforts, most notably the Town’s Local Comprehensive Plan and the Cape Cod Commission’s Regional Policy Plan
After drafting the plan’s strategies, we engaged various community partners instrumental to the HPP’s implementation — including Town staff, members from various Town bodies, realtors, developers, housing and service providers, and others — to ensure the solutions we proposed were feasible and actionable. The Town’s Planning Board and Select Board were presented with the draft HPP in June 2022 and given opportunity to provide feedback before they unanimously approved the plan in July 2022. The MA Department of Housing and Community Development approved the plan in August 2022.
