SALISBURY — In January, the Salisbury City Council made housing “availability and affordability at all income levels” one of their priorities for the city to address.

“Although the housing need is most acutely felt at the lower income levels, there’s housing shortages in Salisbury across all incomes, so we need to look at the whole picture,” Planning and Neighborhoods Director Hannah Jacobson said. “We need not just another study, but we need a strategy. We need some actionable strategies that can produce some real results.”

During Tuesday’s meeting, Jacobson mentioned that Salisbury has certain objectives for this strategy that includes accumulating partnerships during the process, deal with old and new housing needs, involve members of the community, and have practical goals.

To assist with this undertaking, the city released a request for qualification in March and had four firms reply. A selection panel that included Mayor Karen Alexander, Council Member Harry McLaughlin and members of other local departments, later interviewed the final two choices. Jacobson requested to council that Salisbury enter into an agreement with Indianapolis-based management consultant Thomas P. Miller and Associates to compose the city’s 10-Year Housing Strategy for an amount of $175,000, which was approved.

Thomas P. Miller has worked all over the country in Colorado, Ohio and Florida. Jacobson said that they specialize in working with small to mid-sized populations like Salisbury, ensuring that whatever they propose will be feasible for the city. Jacobson highlighted Miller’s strong recommendations from previous clients and how their expertise aligns with Salisbury’s future plans.

“One thing that we thought was really great is that they might be able to bring the economic development commissions, some of our larger employers, to the table in a way to talk about housing because housing is an ‘all of us’ issue,” Jacobson said.

A topic still being discussed is whether or not there will be a steering committee. If there is, talks will need to be had over who will be a part of it. The current end date for the project is May 2024, but Jacobson advised that the timeline could be subject to change.