Mass. Is Losing Our Youngest. Blame Taxes and the Cost of Living
A pair of studies suggest the accelerating departures mean a state revenue bump from the Millionaires Tax will be relatively fleeting.
Report Flags Mobility, Costs as Threats to Mass. Competitiveness
You can’t manage what you can’t measure, so a new scorecard from the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation is putting numbers to the state’s competitiveness problem as Beacon Hill continues to grapple with the issue
Rising Home Costs Push Down Business Confidence In August
As the cost of purchasing or renting a home continues to increase, Associated Industries of Massachusetts recent Business Confidence Index shows that there is some caution from business owners heading into the fall.
Poll: Housing, Transportation Costs Pushing People Out Of Mass.
One in five Bay Staters envisions themselves leaving Massachusetts for another state within the next five years, according to a new poll that found a sizable majority of residents burdened by high housing costs.
Housing Costs Forcing Business to Expand Outside of MA
Rising costs of living and doing business in Massachusetts are now the dominant factors influencing local employers’ hiring and location decisions, and pushing some to expand elsewhere, according to a new survey.
It’s the Housing, Stupid
The housing crisis has gone national, spreading from Boston and a few other blue cities to states and markets across the country. And along the way, it is helping poison the nation’s political mood by deferring or killing the dreams of a generation.
Analysts See Mass. Outmigration Trend as Ongoing Threat
One expert said the data “just jumps off the page how much housing has to be a central driver of the domestic outmigration we’re seeing.”
Falling Energy Prices Curb Local Inflation, Feds Say
Consumer prices were up 3.2 percent nationally and 2.8 percent locally for the 12-month period ending with July.
Senators Look Beyond Taxes as ‘Competitiveness’ Concerns Grow
The Senate’s top Republican opted against seeking a vote Thursday on a roughly $750 million tax relief proposal, but set off a debate that revealed some fault lines as senators prepare for action on a standalone tax bill that Democrats have promised is around the corner.
Report Waves Red Flags on Mass. Costs, Outmigration
The “red flags are waving” across Massachusetts, with housing, transportation and migration patterns continuing to trend in the wrong direction, according to a new report.
The High Price of High-Cost Housing
High housing costs helped force tens of thousands more Bay Staters to move away last year than immigrants who picked us as their new home for the first time in many years, experts say, ringing alarm bells about the state’s ability to sustain itself.
US Inflation Hit a New 40-Year High Last Month of 8.6 Percent
The prices of gas, food and most other goods and services jumped in May, raising inflation to a new four-decade high and giving American households no respite from rising costs.
At Chamber, Baker Plugs Downtowns Aid, Help for Unemployed
In his first in-person speech to the business community in two years, Gov. Charlie Baker said Tuesday he will offer some “unusual approaches” later this week to help people get back to work as he made a pitch for an agenda in his final year in office that includes investing in behavioral health and helping cities and towns redesign their downtowns for a post-pandemic future.
Boston Must Lead the Way in This Transformative Moment
To remain a global leader in talent and opportunity, Boston must lead the way in transforming livability and affordability for everyone making a home here: bringing down the cost of living for our workforce and boosting civic infrastructure for quality of life.
Massachusetts’ Growth Rate Shows We’re Not on a Winning Track
It’s a brief pause on a trajectory of diminishing political pull that is only headed down unless we can rein in the high cost and high hassle of living in Greater Boston
Boston Renters Hit Hard by COVID-19 Impacts
Service industry employees who were already paying Boston’s highest-percentage of earnings as rent are among the first to feel the effects of COVID-19 induced job losses, according to an initial analysis of the pandemic’s economic effects.
Rent Control Debate Brings Big Crowd to State House
Sharing personal stories of financial strain and housing uncertainty, Massachusetts tenants argued Tuesday that a controversial proposal to revive local rent control options could help them avoid displacement.
‘The Nation’s Housing’ Columnist Kenneth Harney Dies at 75
Kenneth R. Harney, the author for four decades of the syndicated real estate column “The Nation’s Housing,” which explored issues faced by homeowners and home buyers, died May 23 at his home in Chevy Chase, Maryland. He was 75.
Hearing Date Set for Baker’s Housing Production Bill
A bill at the center of Gov. Charlie Baker’s plan to address the state’s housing crisis, that would make it easier for towns to rezone areas for housing construction, is moving forward on Beacon Hill after failing to pass in the last legislative session.
Hello Rent Control, Goodbye New Apartments
Overnight, a new push by a pair of progressive state lawmakers to bring back rent control would pull the rug out from under the apartment boom, one that has seen a bevy of new rental high-rises take shape in Boston and Cambridge.
