Gov. Maura Healey plans to close the MCI-Concord men’s prison. The site is connected to the West Concord commuter rail station by a short bicycle path and directly adjacent to Route 2. iStock photo

Gov. Maura Healey has promised to “go big” on housing as he pushes a multibillion-dollar spending plan.

But while the governor’s plan is certainly big, it stops far short of being bold on two key issues that could make a big difference lowering prices and rents.

The first: leveraging old prisons, hospitals, military bases and other state-owned or -controlled land and transforming them into a launch pad for desperately needed homes, condos and apartments.

So far, the administration’s record in this area has been less than inspiring.

Sworn in as the state’s housing czar last June, Ed Augustus has been exploring the potential for housing at state-owned properties, but has offered few details on how much land might be available and much new housing could be built.

A promised study on the issue has yet to be released.

Meanwhile, the Walpole prison recently closed and state correctional officials have announced they are now moving ahead with shutting down the state prison for men in Concord as well, part of a drive to shave millions of the state budget by consolidating prisoners and prison staff from underused facilities.

Both prison sites would at the least provide some valuable raw acreage to developers, with Concord officials already eyeing some preliminary ideas for housing on at least part of the site as they figure out how to comply with the MBTA Communities transit-oriented zoning law.

But the Healey administration, for the moment at least, hasn’t said anything about either prison site and whether housing could at least be part of the mix.

If that’s the plan, they had better get moving now, for it would likely take years for state officials to work through all the local red tape and other zoning regulations in order to put part or all of the former prison sites out to bid for potential housing development.

Of course, Healey and her housing chief might ruffle the feathers of some local bigwigs by moving aggressively to pencil in housing at the former prison sites, but unless the governor and her housing chief are willing to court a little pushback from the NIMBYs, solving the housing crisis will prove to be an impossible task.

State’s Track Record Uninspiring

So far, though, the state’s track record of turning underused or “surplus” public land into housing has been none too encouraging.

At Devens, the former army base turn industrial park, MassDevelopment has been stymied in its efforts to build housing by opposition from officials in neighboring Harvard, Ayer and Shirley.

The latest plan – to redevelop the old Vicksburg Square barracks into 400 apartments or condominiums – is pathetically small given the thousands of servicemen and women who lived at Devens when it was a full-scale Army post.

Healey’s $4.1 billion housing plan is also big but not-so-bold in another crucial area: taking down the many and sundry zoning regulations and other obstacles that local officials have erected over the years in order to prevent new housing from being built.

The governor’s plan would spend billions on incentives to spur construction of affordable even market rate housing, as well as rebuilding the state’s decrepit public housing units.

But when it comes to zoning reform, it is decidedly unambitious, settling for a mostly uncontroversial plan to remove barriers to the construction of in-law apartments and granny flats on single-family lots across the state.

Scott Van Voorhis

Conspicuously not included was a proposal pushed by YIMBY groups that would have extended the apartment- and condo-friendly zoning of the MBTA Communities reform beyond the Boston area and to the rest of the state.

The crazy-high prices and rents we are seeing in Massachusetts can’t be blamed on a dearth of government spending, with the state having devoted significant dollars to affordable housing construction programs for years.

Rather, the high cost of housing is a direct result of the hyper-regulation of land and development by cities, towns and suburbs across the state, many of which actively discourage the construction of new apartments and homes that would attract more families and – so local officials often claim without much evidence – potentially increase school costs.

If Healey is truly determined to move the needle on housing prices and rents, the roadmap is there in a combination of an ambitious buildout of state-owned land and reform of local zoning laws. And she has plenty of time left in her first term to put forward a second or a third major zoning reform bill if she can get her current one through the legislature this year.

But whether she has the political courage and conviction to follow it remains to be seen.

Scott Van Voorhis is Banker & Tradesman’s columnist and publisher of the Contrarian Boston newsletter; opinions expressed are his own. He may be reached at sbvanvoorhis@hotmail.com.