PITTSFIELD, Mass. - It’s been more than a decade since the last large-scale affordable housing development was built in Pittsfield, but the city could soon have a new tool to help address the issue with the creation of a new affordable housing trust.

The city council’s ordinances and rules subcommittee unanimously voted in favor of the trust this week, and the full council will consider it at its next meeting.

It could help with several initiatives to address the housing shortage in the city, including helping to develop new affordable housing projects and down payment or rental assistance programs.

Community development director Justine Dodds said there’s a sense of urgency to create more housing options.

“With there being not a lot of inventory at the moment, and we’ve also heard people are coming in and buying houses, with Pittsfield being one of the places that people relocated to, it just makes sense at this time to look at it and put in the forefront,” said Dodds.

Dodds is optimistic the full city council will approve the trust next week, and she said they’ll get to work assembling a board of trustees as soon as possible.