Gov. Maura Healey, far right, standing alongside Housing Secretary Edward Augustus, swears in members of the Commission on Unlocking Housing Production on Jan. 29, 2024. Photo by Sam Doran | State House News Service

As part of her push to boost housing supply, Gov. Maura Healey swore in around 30 members of two panels Monday, bringing together groups like developers and builders, advocates for the homeless and people with disabilities, and local officials.

A new Commission on Unlocking Housing Production will recommend changes to state and local laws to boost the construction of housing. A Housing Advisory Council, also created under a Healey executive order, will “develop a comprehensive housing plan for Massachusetts,” according to her office.

“We don’t expect agreement on everything,” Healey said, “But that’s the value of the commission and the council, right? Is that we’re going to have the best minds, with I think it’s fair to say the best intentions.”

The governor used the ceremony to plug her housing bill, the subject of an hours-long hearing on Jan. 18. Aiming her efforts at “new starts” along with preservation, rehabilitation, and renovation of existing housing, the governor said “we need to act with urgency that we haven’t brought to bear before as a state.”

Healey, who made housing a central platform of her 2022 campaign, filed her housing bill in October and it remains in committee.

“We’re down a couple hundred thousand units. It’s holding families back every single day. It’s holding our economy back every single day. The Affordable Homes act that Secretary Augustus and his team put together … offers a panoply, a menu, of any number of options to select from, including a number of recommended policy changes that are all about incenting housing production,” the governor said.

“If we do not deal with this now, we are setting ourselves up for more people leaving, and for not the kind of economic growth and opportunity growth for residents of this state. It’s as simple as that. I’m telling you, I’m preaching to the choir, here,” Healey continued.

Commission on Unlocking Housing Production members: Housing and Livable Communities Secretary Ed Augustus (Chair); Administration and Finance Secretary Matt Gorzkowicz; Economic Development Secretary Yvonne Hao or designee; Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Rebecca Tepper or designee; Vanessa Calderón-Rosado, Inquilinos Boricuas en Acción; Easthampton Mayor Nicole LaChapelle; Richard Marlin, Mass. Building Trades Council; Levi Reilly, Marcus Partners; Jesse Kanson-Benanav, Abundant Housing MA; Jeffrey Brem, Home Builders & Remodelers Association of MA; David Linhart, Goulston & Storrs; Tamara Small, NAIOP-Massachusetts; Jennifer Raitt, Northern Middlesex Council of Governments; Peter Ostroskey, Former State Fire Marshall; Clark Ziegler, Mass. Housing Partnership.

Housing Advisory Council members: Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll (Chair); Housing and Livable Communities Secretary Ed Augustus (vice chair); Administration and Finance Secretary Matt Gorzkowicz; Chrystal Kornegay, MassHousing; Joseph Byrne, North Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters; Symone Crawford, Mass Affordable Housing Alliance; Stephen Davis, The Davis Cos.; Keith Fairey, Way Finders; Rachel Heller, Citizens’ Housing and Planning Association; Amy Schectman, 2Life Communities; Angie Liou, Asian Community Development Corp.; Kenan Bigby, Trinity Financial; Worcester City Manager Eric Batista; Lynn Mayor Jared Nicholson; Adam Chapdelaine, Mass. Municipal Association; Brad Gordon, Berkshire County Regional Housing Authority; Colin Killick, Disability Policy Consortium; Nicole Obi, BECMA;  Justin Davidson, Mass. Association of Realtors; and John Yazwinski, Father Bill’s & MainSpring.