State government leaders in Massachusetts are trying to instigate a building boom to address a housing shortage marked by high rents and sale prices, but a top housing official is now warning that headwinds from Washington could threaten their efforts.
Housing advocates say Gov. Maura Healey’s proposal to boost it an additional 16 percent in fiscal 2026 only keeps up with inflation due to sky-high housing prices.
If Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll and Housing Secretary Ed Augustus had one message when speaking to real estate movers and shakers Tuesday morning in downtown Boston, it was “watch this space.”
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.
Housing advocates and elected officials rallied Wednesday in support of a statewide policy to allow accessory dwelling units by right, and the state’s top housing official offered his “word on the street” about the timing of a major housing bill’s arrival in the House.
The state is stripping Milton of a $140,800 coastal resiliency grant awarded only a month ago after voters there rejected a multifamily zoning package last week that was intended to bring the town into compliance with the MBTA Communities transit-oriented zoning law.
Gov. Maura Healey is still waiting for the legislature to act on her big housing bill, but she paused Monday to swear in two panels of developers, municipal leaders and advocates Monday, charged with charting more housing production reforms.
With an assist from the Healey-Driscoll administration, Gateway Cities can pave the way for a new future – one where housing helps drive economic success.
The plan is designed to generate 40,000 new units statewide, and would legalize accessory dwelling units in single-family zones and state aid for conversions of underutilized office buildings and malls into housing.
While the wait continues for a housing bond bill, the Healey administration’s housing production vision is slowly coming into view, and it will feature more than 20 policy changes designed to drive up the state’s lowest-in-the-nation vacancy rate.
The Healey administration is considering a menu of housing policies, including creating seasonal designations for communities affected by summer tourism
State housing officials announced Thursday afternoon that they will let Boston-area towns and cities add a potentially controversial requirement for mixed-use buildings to zoning changes designed to comply with the MBTA Communities transit-oriented zoning law.
“From dire to downright catastrophic” just about sums up the steady progression of the housing crisis in Massachusetts over the past year, with new construction falling off a cliff as rents and home prices keep setting records.
New research into one of the globe’s most ambitious upzoning experiments contains potentially bad news for Massachusetts – just not quite what you’d think.
Massachusetts has a new housing boss, and in a crisis of unaffordability leading to housing insecurity for many and hurting the state’s competitiveness, his mantra is “more, faster.” But details are still thin.
A huge batch of state grants for 27 different projects announced Thursday will see 1,597 affordable and mixed-income housing units built or preserved.
Gov. Maura Healey has named former Worcester City Manager Ed Augustus as the state’s first housing secretary in 30 years.
