Wayne Gretzky famously said that he skates “to where the puck is going, not to where it has been.”

When it comes to economic development in Massachusetts, policymakers have to do a better job looking ahead at changes in technology, transportation and the very nature of work.

We have to start skating to where the puck is going – especially in western Massachusetts.

Instead of giving money to the world’s wealthiest companies to locate in already-booming neighborhoods of Boston, why don’t we invest in workers to start families and build homes in areas of Massachusetts left out of Boston’s boom?

That’s the idea behind S.208, An Act Establishing the Western Massachusetts Remote Worker Relocation Incentive Program.

The bill would make remote workers moving to Western Massachusetts eligible for reimbursement of up to $10,000 in relocation and setup expenses as long as they are employed by a business outside of the region.

Take Advantage of Trends

Earlier this year, I met a couple who would have benefitted from this program when they chose to leave the overheated Boston real estate market to work from home in Holyoke.

Boon and Caro Sheridan lived in an Everett apartment until the owner decided to sell the property. Rather than looking for a new home in Boston, the couple found a converted church in Holyoke for $240,000, and it’s now both their home and office space.

Their decision was easy once you consider average home prices. In Boston and the surrounding suburbs, the median price of a single-family home nearly doubled from 2008 to 2018. When you add in student loans and childcare expenses, the Boston area housing market is simply unaffordable for most families.

One solution to this problem is to use the resources of our entire state – including the surplus of affordable family homes, open space and exceptionally talented people in Western Massachusetts.

Massachusetts policymakers need to do a better job looking ahead 20 or 30 years, and planning for new trends.

One of those new trends is remote working. More and more companies are allowing – or even encouraging – their employees to work remotely, whether from home, a coworking space or other arrangement.

Regional Rail Upgrades Needed As Well

Another trend is the clustering of jobs in major cities. McKinsey predicts that 60 percent of new jobs over the next 10 years will be created in just 25 “megacities and high-growth hubs.”

Luckily, Boston is one of them. But that also means a lot more congestion and even higher housing prices as thousands more residents try to make the workweek commute in and out of Boston.

That’s why we need a fully-integrated regional rail network that acknowledges the realities of our workforce trends and supports those needs. We need high-speed rail linking our largest cities.

Companies will keep moving to Boston; we cannot completely change market trends or discount the reasons they move to Boston in the first place.

But we can make it possible for people to live in Western Massachusetts, where beautiful homes are plentiful and more affordable, and still work in Eastern Massachusetts – either remotely or by commuting on fast, frequent and reliable rail service.

It’s a win-win: Eastern Massachusetts can attract and retain more talent from Western Massachusetts, while Western Massachusetts can grow its economy, and realize its full potential.

To jumpstart economic engines everywhere in the state, we need both ends of our state to be creating jobs, offering good housing options and preparing workers for the jobs of the future.

So let’s start skating to where the puck is going.

State Sen. Eric P. Lesser is the Senate chair of the Joint Committee on Economic Development & Emerging Technologies and vice chair of the Joint Committee on Transportation. He represents the First Hampden and Hampshire District.