Gov. Maura Healey and two of her top officials crowded into a Lexington accessory dwelling unit Wednesday morning to announce an ADU design contest and new “affordable” financing options for ADU construction.
ADUs may be legal to build statewide in Massachusetts, but a new study from the Pioneer Institute shows we’re building them at a fraction of the pace of cities in California and Washington.
While residents are paying princely sums to live in Boston, many who can’t afford to pay Boston’s housing piper are leaving. And the city’s pursuing ADU rules that dramatically restrict how many will be built.
A quiet fight played out earlier this year over accessory dwelling units, also known as ADUs, in-law apartments or “granny flats.”
With communities’ history of opposition to housing in mind, MAR is extremely concerned about the ways in which municipalities may attempt to subvert the intent of this law.
Towns and cities now have answers to what they can – and, importantly, can’t – do to regulate accessory dwelling units.
Five Boston-area banks have partnered with the city of Boston to offer zero-interest loans to Boston homeowners. But promised zoning changes needed to enable ADU construction appear stalled.
As a growing number of Massachusetts communities permit construction of small infill housing models, VC-backed Andover startup Reframe Robotics sees an opening to industrialize housing production.
A YIMBY tide is rolling across the nation. And the only question for Massachusetts is whether it will ride it willingly or get dragged along kicking and screaming in its wake.
Nearly 18 months after legislative leaders kicked off the two-year term by identifying sky-high housing costs as one of their chief areas of focus, the Massachusetts House stamped its approval on a $6.5 billion plan that top Democrats believe will begin to unwind decades of sluggish production.
A University of Massachusetts Amherst/WCVB poll released Monday morning found that housing was the most-mentioned issue when respondents were asked what is the most important issue facing the state.
A 2017 law then seen as groundbreaking hardly generated few new homes. It left too much room for local officials to create hidden roadblocks, experts in New Hampshire say.
As passions around the MBTA Communities law rise, it’s time to take a fact-based look at the law, put it in context with what other states are doing and plan accordingly.
The Massachusetts Municipal Association supports Gov. Maura Healey’s policy-heavy, $4 billion housing bond bill, but there are pockets of concern among local leaders as the state deploys other carrots and sticks to generate more construction.
Massachusetts politicians should look at Raleigh, North Carolina with a mixture of anger, envy and fear: Anger and envy that that metro has outpaced us in housing construction by miles, fear that it will help them steal our jobs and prosperity.
In her biggest policy speech of the year, Mayor Michelle Wu laid out her pledges for 2024.
Rezoning plans for downtown Boston and the Mattapan neighborhood moved forward in a strategy designed to encourage post-pandemic reinvestment and housing production.
The Biden administration is taking steps to help create more affordable houses and apartments, which could help fill the inventory gap that plagues the housing sector.
Other states’ experiences show increasing the production of ADUs requires the passage of statewide legislation, but that policymakers must pick between producing more units and producing less controversy.
