Proposal would require all home builders to help create affordable homes

by | Oct 14, 2017 | Affordable housing, zoning | 14 comments

Mayor Warren’s Planning Department floated some ideas last month designed to create more affordable housing in Newton through changes to the city’s inclusionary zoning policies. I’m hardly an expert on zoning but will try to explain it as best I can. I hope others who know more about this will jump in, correct me and expand on this.

Under Newton’s current inclusionary zoning rules, when a developer builds a housing project of more than

What does it take to make ends meet in Newton? A cost-of-living breakdown

What does it take to make ends meet in Newton? A cost-of-living breakdown

by | Jul 6, 2017 | Affordable housing, Newton | 3 comments

City Councilor Jake Auchincloss shared this on his email newsletter. Reprinted here with his permission.

Residents spend approximately 15% more to live in Newton than in neighboring cities and towns of Middlesex County, and one in five families earn below the living wage of $78K, according to Making Ends Meet in Newton, a report sponsored by the mayor’s Economic Growth for All initiative.

Drawing on Boston College faculty to help apply

How bad is the housing crisis in Massachusetts?

How bad is the housing crisis in Massachusetts?

by | Jun 21, 2017 | Affordable housing, development | 48 comments

In light of all the recent conversation, both at the local and the state level, about development, I wanted to share for discussion this recent presentation by the non-profit Massachusetts Housing Partnership.

Some of the highlights:

  • Housing production has sharply declined in Massachusetts despite increases in population and employment
  • Massachusetts now has one of the lowest rates of housing production in the U.S.
  • Without adding any new people or new jobs, the state’s housing supply is already about 44,000 units short of demand. Most of that shortfall is in metro Boston.
  • Most of the regions with which we compete for skilled workers are building more housing and have lower housing costs

I pose this question to my neighbors: At what point does this become our problem?

Surrounding communities that welcome development such as

What happens to prices when you build luxury apartments

by | May 29, 2017 | Affordable housing | 6 comments

Today’s Globe editorial is about the Boston rental market but the same laws of supply and demand apply here.
Many of those new units, whether they’re condos or apartments, are too expensive for the average family. But the city believes that they’ve reduced the demand on older housing stock enough that owners of existing units have been forced to lower their prices to compete. The law of supply and demand, it would appear, is working in Boston.