Massachusetts Grapples With a Housing Shortage

A recent report found that many Massachusetts communities had established a ‘paper wall’ of zoning restrictions that is limiting new housing options, CityLab reports.

“The local zoning approval processes for multifamily housing have been evolving to be more flexible, political, ad hoc, unpredictable, time consuming, and discretionary,” reads the study, by researcher Amy Dain of the nonprofit policy center MassINC, of bylaws, ordinances, and plans of 100 cities and towns around Boston. “The current processes are unlikely to yield enough housing in the coming years.”

Like many other metros nationwide, Boston’s housing production lags far behind what is needed to keep housing costs reasonable. From 2010 to 2017, Greater Boston added 245,000 new jobs, but only permitted 71,600 new homes. As a result, the Smart Growth Alliance says, one quarter of all renters in Massachusetts now spend more than 50 percent of their income on housing. Housing costs in the Commonwealth continue to rise faster than New York or California.

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