The City of Caribou is working to improve housing options and costs in its efforts to develop a Housing Needs Assessment & Action Plan. Please take the survey below to let us know your thoughts on existing housing options and what you’d like to see housing look like in Caribou moving forward. Paper copies are also available at the Clerk’s Office on the first floor of the Municipal Building at 25 High Street.
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/Y6CF29R
How We Got Here:
After doing community outreach, it was determined that the City of Caribou needed to do a Housing Study to determine what kind and how much new housing is needed, what type of housing is needed, and for who. On March 4, 2024, the City applied for a Municipal Grant to assist with the development and cost of the housing study through the Maine Department of Economic & Community Development (DECD). The City was sent a letter on October 7, 2024 that our application was a high scoring application and a “conditional contract” was awarded. Upon further discussion with DECD, a full contract was executed and the City issued a Request for Proposal (RFP) in July. The winning bidder was Matrix Design Group, which has ample experience in data collection, analysis, graphics, mapping, and policy related to housing and land use, which will help the City greatly in this effort.
Project Updates
The project kickoff and initial public meeting was held on November 18th at 5PM in City Council Chambers. Matrix provided the below attachments explaining what a Housing Needs Assessment is, key findings on demographic and housing market information in Caribou, images for residents to react to for types of housing they might want to see, and an activity to explore potential policy solutions. Those can all be viewed below:
What is a Housing Needs Assessment & Action Plan?
Caribou Key Findings & Information
Visual Preference Board on Types of Housing
Housing Perspectives and Policies Board
Matrix will be wrapping up the Housing Needs Assessment portion of the project in early 2026, which will outline the condition of existing Caribou housing stock, what residents are experiencing and possible gaps in Caribou housing, as well as how the housing market is changing. Come Spring, the City will work with Matrix Design to come up with the Housing Action Plan piece of the project to identify policies, funding options, and implementation strategies to support the City’s housing goals and meet its challenges.
The City will post the draft Housing Needs Assessment on this page for review and keep the Caribou Calendar and City of Caribou social media accounts up to date when there are public meetings on the project.
For more information, please contact Economic & Community Development Specialist, Eric Sanderson at esanderson@cariboumaine.org or (207) 498-5096.
The City of Caribou’s full application can be viewed here.
Media coverage of this planning project: