Concord's Planning Board will pick one of its members to sit on a newly formed Housing Production Plan Steering Committee at a remote meeting Thursday, Oct. 8.

The committee is a new body, according to the board's posted agenda. The designation is the sole item listed under administrative business. No other details about the committee's charge, full membership or timeline appeared in the agenda materials.

The move comes as Concord prepares to update its Housing Production Plan (HPP), a document that guides how the town adds affordable housing. The current HPP was adopted by the Planning Board and Select Board in December 2022 and approved by the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities (EOHLC) in January 2023. It expires Dec. 20, 2027.

According to a town informational update from August 2025, the next plan is scheduled to begin in spring 2027 and must be completed before the current one lapses. The Planning Board's Envision Concord action tracker lists the HPP update as a one-to-two-year priority, contingent on Community Preservation Act funding.

The steering committee's formation arrives during a stretch of significant housing construction in town. The 201-unit NOVO Riverside Commons on Baker Avenue broke ground Sept. 24, with 51 units designated affordable under Chapter 40B. A second 40B project, the 237-unit Residences at Thoreau, is also under construction, The Concord Bridge reported.

"There's going to be a lot of dirt moving in the next decade in this town," Select Board member Paul Boehm said at the NOVO groundbreaking Sept. 24, as reported by The Concord Bridge.

As of August 2025, Concord's Subsidized Housing Inventory stood at 13.34%, or 957 countable units. That is a net increase of 242 units since the 2022 HPP was adopted. Meanwhile, the town's median single-family home price reached $1.525 million in 2023, up 124% from $680,000 in 2010, while median household income rose 77% over the same period, according to the town's informational update.

The Concord Housing Roundtable discussed an HPP update at its Tuesday, Sept. 29 meeting, days before the Planning Board posted the Oct. 8 agenda.

Thursday's meeting begins at 8 a.m. via Zoom (Meeting ID: 818 7156 0138, Passcode: 951326) or by phone at 877-853-5257. Meeting materials are available on the town's Planning Board page or at the Planning Division, 141 Keyes Road. The next Planning Board meeting is Oct. 20.