HOUSING
Massachusetts is facing an historic housing crunch. Explore its root causes and implications for shelter systems, economic development planning, and the state’s competitiveness pitch with CommonWealth Beacon reporting.
Our top five housing stories of 2025
The Bay State’s housing crunch seemed to reach into all corners in 2025, tying up courts, lawmakers navigating climate and transportation concerns, groups dependent on federal fair housing funding, and services promising to make it easier for more people to afford to live in pricey Massachusetts.
What is the Massachusetts FAIR Plan, the state’s insurer of last resort?
The increased FAIR Plan policies and rising home insurance prices in the private market across New England both reflect and tell the climate story, since insurers are the arbiters of risk.
MBTA Communities fight heads back to the SJC
A group of holdout towns is banking on the very court that declared the legislation mandatory in January to rule that the mandate is illegal without dedicated funding.
A push to build housing in ‘God’s backyard’
Massachusetts YIGBY legislation would allow faith-based organizations to build multi-family housing by right on parcels they’ve owned for at least three years.
A third tilt at the windmill for Wu’s tax shift
In letters to the city council and business leaders on Wednesday, Wu warned that residential property taxes are poised for a second double-digit year-over-year increase in a row, with officials projecting a 13 percent rise next year.
‘People have a right to know’: Flood disclosures poised to step into legislative limelight next year
As flooding touches more Massachusetts households, Gov. Maura Healey is proposing a new requirement to mandate the flood disclosures as a means of steering people out of harm’s way in the first place.
Beacon Hill clears hurdle for Weymouth naval air base redevelopment
After a series of stops and starts stretching back 15-plus years, Beacon Hill is on the verge of removing one of the last remaining obstacles to redevelopment of the former naval air base in Weymouth.
‘They’re making a huge bet’: Rent control referendum splits progressives
If a campaign to instate rent control across the Commonwealth makes it to the ballot, voters will need to weigh whether every municipality should adopt a measure more stringent than earlier attempts by Boston, Brookline, and Somerville.
Report: Affordability gap grows for those seeking starter homes
Home prices and rents have flattened in 2025 but are still “historically” high, according to a report released by The Boston Foundation and Boston Indicators.
Boston looks to go on offense on energy affordability
Cuts at the state level mean the city’s initiative will be operating in a more financially constrained environment. The crux of the new effort will rely on the state’s Mass Save program, which funds energy efficiency upgrades around the state through ratepayer charges.
Boston housing permitting lags as residents express support for zoning changes
Eighty-one percent of Boston residents, according to a new Abundant Housing Massachusetts poll, support a goal of building 30,000 new homes in Boston – signaling broad agreement on the scale of the crisis, even as questions persist about whether such targets are achievable or even useful.
In fight against Nantucket housing development, an unusual battle cry
Whether it’s just a calculated bid to pull any available lever in the NIMBY arsenal or the legitimate invocation of a serious environmental threat, or perhaps both, the review petition is now in the hands of the Healey administration.
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