Monday, October 5, 2026ListenPodcastGet the Morning CurrentSend a tipBecome a member
We just launched. The Cape Ann Current is brand new, so new stories may not post every day while we get up to speed. Thanks for reading, and send us your news.
Cape Ann Current: Keeping Cape Ann current

Free daily news for Gloucester, Rockport, Essex and Manchester-by-the-Sea

The Housing Compass tracker

Know Before It's Decided · Gloucester

Gloucester just adopted a five year plan to make housing more affordable. Plans like this often sit on a shelf. We are going to keep score, in plain English, of every promise in it.

"I'd like to see us do something over the next year rather than stick this on a shelf somewhere to gather dust."

City Councilor at Large Jason Grow, at the Sept. 29 meeting where the plan was adopted
Our answer to his question: this page. Every one of the plan's 24 actions is listed below with who has to act and what has happened so far. We update it every time a board, the council or the state takes a step.

The scorecard

0done
0started
0not started

    Last updated .

    The plan in one minute

    The Housing Compass is a to do list for the next five years. It was written by the city and the Metropolitan Area Planning Council after a year of surveys, focus groups and forums with more than 600 people. It sorts its ideas into three goals: protect people who live here now, preserve the affordable homes Gloucester has, and produce new homes people can afford.

    What it does

    • Sets the city's housing priorities through 2031
    • Names five private sites where affordable homes could fit
    • Gives Gloucester more say over large affordable housing projects once the state approves it

    What it does not do

    • Change any zoning
    • Spend any money
    • Build anything or require any owner to build
    • Each idea still needs its own vote and public hearing

    Why the city says it is needed

    $715,000median price of a single family home in Gloucester, 2025
    41%of households spend more than 30% of their income on housing
    1 for every 6affordable homes for every six households that qualify for one
    8%of homes are on the state's affordable list. The state goal is 10%, about 273 more homes.

    What does it mean for me?

    Pick the one that fits you to see the parts of the plan that would affect you most.

    Every action, tracked

    A star marks the strategies the plan calls a priority: the ones it says would do the most and should happen first.

    Can I afford to live here?

    Enter your household's size and yearly income before taxes. You will see whether you qualify for income restricted Affordable Housing and what rent you could pay at 30% of your income, the standard housing programs use.

    Income limits: HUD FY2026, as printed in the plan. Rents: 2024 median asking rents from MAPC rental listings, as printed in the plan. This is a rough guide, not an application. To apply for a program, start with the city's Housing Programs page or Action Inc.

    Words you will hear at meetings

    How to have a say

    Every change in this plan has to come back for a public vote. Zoning ideas start at the Planning Board and its housing subcommittee, then go to the City Council for a public hearing. Money programs go through the Affordable Housing Trust. Meeting dates are in our Meetings section, and we preview the big ones in the Morning Current.

    See something moving that we missed? Tell us at [email protected].

    Read our story on the Sept. 29 vote

    Read the plan yourself

    These are the city's own documents, saved here so they stay easy to find. The City Council and Planning Board adopted the plan Sept. 29, 2026. The city has posted only the July draft so far; we will add the final adopted version here as soon as it is released.

    Originals on the city's Housing Compass page. Prepared by the City of Gloucester and the Metropolitan Area Planning Council.