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.
Dueling housing ballot measures collide with frustrated lawmakers
While rent control proponents acknowledged the need for more housing production, they argued that the state cannot build its way out of the crisis and that supply-oriented solutions like the starter home proposal are not sufficient on their own. Rezoning proponents, meanwhile, warned that if lawmakers did not enact the lot size change, voters may opt for price controls on rents they say would stifle the housing production market.
Competitiveness fears weave through budget hearings
“There is almost perfect correlation between expensive states and outmigration, and we are a very expensive state,” testified Eric Paley, Gov. Maura Healey’s secretary of economic development, at a budget hearing in in Barnstable.
Were MBTA Communities costs unfair, or a self-imposed expense?
The ongoing fight over the transit-centered housing law has played out in the middle of a serious housing crunch. The state has said 222,000 new homes need to be built by 2035 to meet pent up demand.
‘You want to put me back on the street?’: Advocates brace for deep cuts to ‘Housing First’ programs
“This program and dozens of others around the state may have to shrink or close — and some are already declining to accept new clients — because of a looming change from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development that up-ends a two-decade-old approach to housing policy.”
Ed Augustus becomes eighth member of Healey’s Cabinet to depart
Housing Secretary Ed Augustus will step down next week to take over a Central Massachusetts bank, and the governor picked former HUD official — and onetime MassINC chief operating officer — Juana Matias to succeed him.
Reluctant MBTA Communities start to buckle
The law will be before the Supreme Judicial Court next month, when the justices hear arguments in a case brought by Marshfield that claims the zoning law should be struck down as an “unfunded mandate” being imposed on communities.
Rent control opponents sue to keep measure off the ballot
Four landlords who own and lease residential units in Massachusetts are the named plaintiffs in the suit seeking to kill the rent control measure. They are suing Attorney General Andrea Campbell and Secretary of State William Galvin in their official capacities.
Holyoke’s unsheltered homeless count hits new record as threats to federal aid loom
The state and federal funding landscape continues to shift while homelessness in Western Massachusetts has reached unprecedented levels in the aftermath of the pandemic. Holyoke had the highest unsheltered count in all of Hampden County this year, according to preliminary numbers.
AG sues towns flouting MBTA Communities law
AG Andrea Campbell is seeking a court order declaring that nine communities must create zoning districts that comply with the law and submit district compliance applications to the state housing office.
Researchers find MBTA housing law benefits ‘modest’ so far
According to the report, 34 municipalities have projects in the pipeline, ranging in size from two to more than 500 units.
Trump administration targets program for chronically homeless residents, sparking fear for vulnerable populations in cities like Springfield
The overhaul has been temporarily and partially blocked by a federal judge, but the move is impacting local administrators of the federal program across Massachusetts and has threatened millions of dollars in funding for permanent housing and thousands of beds for the chronically homeless.
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