Providing sufficient housing – particularly housing that is affordable – is a tremendous challenge. And while the need is particularly urgent right now, this problem is not new. Two new books show how we’ve struggled with it before.
How can affordable housing be built to operate to high efficiency standards, enduring into an uncertain climate future? Currently, the resources available to achieve these goals are falling short of the costs to meet them.
The Low Income Housing Tax Credit program has been remarkably effective. Across the country, the lion’s share of below-market-rate housing has utilized these tax credits. Now, there is a broad-based effort in Congress to expand the credit significantly to make a good thing even better.
No one has a comprehensive grasp of what rules apply to multifamily construction where and what the results have been. That’s about to change with the Massachusetts Smart Growth Alliance’s new study.
Often cities and towns have the will to produce more housing but are ill-equipped to determine what will work. Technical support is needed to evaluate the projected impact, coupled with the resources to reach out to and educate the public
Urban areas across the country are fighting the problem of prohibitively high housing prices and lack of supply. With cities becoming people magnets in the 21st century, even middle-sized communities like Minneapolis, Minnesota, are facing the problem.
It is no badge of honor that Boston continues to be the third-most expensive rental market in the country. In our area, home values have little relationship to area wages and employers and entrepreneurs are hamstrung in attracting workers who have choices to move to attractive and less costly housing markets.
Homeownership is more common in the United States than in most other developed countries. Not only does owning a home provide shelter and stability but also it has become a way to save and build wealth.
It is not news that the Trump Administration was successful in getting the controversial Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 passed late last year.
A little over 100 years ago, Model T cars began rolling off assembly lines, and, though he didn’t invent the process, Henry Ford is often credited with mass production that made cars more affordable – to address a need.
“Housing ‘crunch’ now a crisis,” the Boston Globe headline read. “Massachusetts legislators have an answer.”
We all look forward to the fall. Except when everything’s back in full swing and you are trying to get anywhere. Traffic is on everybody’s mind, and system solutions are needed to serve our region’s growth plan.
For one week last month, while many Americans were on vacation, thousands of people across the country mobilized around a cause that most people seldom think about but that affects millions of people – having a safe and affordable place to call home.
All of us need housing which is affordable. That means having real housing choices at the right price for individuals and families.
For many years, even as the supply of homes has increased gradually in Eastern Massachusetts, the continuing demand was so great that housing prices and rents seemed to unrelentingly increase. They dipped in the Great Recession but have continued to march upward.
Between the national marches and the local rallies, these are political times. Of lesser notice is the emergence of an important grassroots movement designed to challenge a major obstacle to building more housing.
Housing is in short supply in our region, particularly housing that serves the needs of the fastest growing demographics in our region: young professionals and seniors.
Federal low-income housing tax credits have been a success. In their 30 years of existence, fostering investment in building homes, they have helped create 3 million units of increasingly needed housing.
Housing costs and housing affordability are on everyone’s mind in Massachusetts. Whether you are trying to put down roots, hire an employee, or stay more closely connected with grandchildren on something other than Skype, you know that we desperately need a lot of new places to live in the commonwealth.
