Change to Condo Conversion Law Doubles Number of Protected Rental Homes
The requirement to compensate tenants displaced by a condo conversion creates a softer landing for households facing the challenges of an unexpected move.
Boston’s Housing Permitting Lags Despite Support for Zoning Changes
Boston is feeling one of the most pronounced housing crunches in the country. But Mayor Michelle Wu has shied away from setting housing production targets.
Proposals Would Boost Cost of Parking, Package Delivery, Rideshares
With policymakers leaning toward a basket full of revenue-raising options to fund transportation, the Metropolitan Area Planning Council tried to kickstart the debate on Wednesday by analyzing three relatively minor initiatives that combined would raise between $250 million and $400 million a year.
MAPC, Four Cities Team Up to Lure Modular Housing Factory
The Boston area’s quasi-public regional planning agency and four cities are splitting a $3 million federal grant that’s intended to lay the groundwork for luring a modular housing factory to the area.
Not Building More Housing Is the Worst Thing You Can Do for Your Schools
Perceptions that new housing equals a flood of new students aren’t new. What is new is the misinformation about it in debates around MBTA Communities compliance.
Homebuying Report Raises Troubling Questions, but Offers Bad Remedies
MAPC’s latest research has uncovered astounding statistics about the role investors are playing in pushing Boston home prices up. But it falls wide of the mark in recommending rent control as a solution to the problem.
Report Claims Investors Adding To Mass. Housing Market Strain
There’s another factor driving local housing-market strain: profit-seeking investors snapping up properties at an increasing rate, according to a new report from established urban planning researchers.
Study: Multifamily Buildings’ Parking Significantly Underused in Boston Suburbs
In an update to its landmark 2019 study, researchers at the Metropolitan Area Planning Council say excessive local parking requirements are continuing to drive up housing costs.
Homebuyers Need Better Flood Risk Info, Planning Group Says
The Metropolitan Area Planning Council is calling for the state to require flood history disclosure for potential homebuyers and renters, after the council’s analysis of stormwater flooding in 2010 showed existing tools to predict flooding were unreliable.
MAPC Study Tracks Disconnect Between Jobs, Housing
The continuing redevelopment of industrial properties in Greater Boston is widening inequity, straining transportation networks and could hurt the region’s future competitiveness, a Metropolitan Area Planning Council report says.
The Only Fix for Housing Woes: Plan, and Build
There’s no savior waiting in the wings for Massachusetts’ housing market. Instead, we have to build one ourselves.
New Plan for Greater Boston Urges Renter Protections, Aid for Housing Developers
A new plan intended to offer a guide for Greater Boston policymakers over the coming years says renter protections and aid for homebuilders both need to be boosted if the state is to become equitable, sustainable and prosperous.
Revive Tired Retail, Help Solve the Housing Crisis
Take a drive through any community in Metro Boston and you’re bound to pass by at least a few retail properties that are past their prime, if not downright shabby. Redeveloping those properties could generate 125,000 new homes region-wide.
Swan Song or Encore for Music Industry?
Somerville officials are studying new ideas to slow the exodus of arts and cultural spaces from the city amid redevelopment and gentrification. And they think developers can help.
Report: Strip Mall Revamps Could Generate 124K Homes
A new MAPC study says outdated and decaying strip malls across Greater Boston have the potential to produce 124,000 new homes if redeveloped.
Strip Malls: Housing’s New Frontier
As the region’s suburbs work to tackle their housing, environmental, economic and racial justice challenges, one of the keys to success may be hiding in plain sight: the humble strip mall. Learn more at an MAPC webinar on Jan. 11.
Burlington Plots New Course for Mall Area
Burlington is blazing a new zoning trail that other suburban towns may be following in coming years, hoping for new housing and better pedestrian connections in the commercial district near the Burlington Mall.
New Development Districts Coming Down the Track
Massachusetts communities have their marching orders...
Survey Finds Participation Boost in Virtual Hearings
A report indicates that virtual hearings have been a positive change for some local planning and zoning boards.
MAPC: E-Commerce a Major Contributor to Traffic
Online shopping and the deliveries it requires have surged during the pandemic, taking a toll on traffic, pollution and industrial rents, according to a new report.
