Globe: 15 communities help address housing crisis (spoiler: Newton not on list)
From Sunday’s Boston Globe…
A recent report highlighting the need for more local housing production found that from 2013 to 2017, 15 municipalities issued more than half the building permits in the state. Boston led the way, followed by Cambridge, Plymouth, Watertown, Everett, Weymouth, Somerville, Burlington, Chelsea, Framingham, Hopkinton, Middleborough, Quincy, Arlington, and Canton.
and here’s a key quote:
The recent report “demonstrates the power that local communities have to
Do you agree that Metropolitan Boston has a housing crisis? Yes or no?
Just about everyone agrees Metropolitan Boston has a housing crisis.
That’s the opening line in a new study the Globe described as the first comprehensive review of zoning laws in Eastern Massachusetts in more than a decade.
Then the report’s continues….
We just surpassed New York City to become the third most expensive large metro rental market in the country. Single-family and condo prices have continued to climb, with median sale prices of nearly $430,000 across the entire metro area, a 4 percent increase since the end of 2017. Renters are being hit with rent increases and evictions, causing housing instability, displacement, and homelessness. In fact, throughout Massachusetts, one out of every four renters – and even one out of every ten
Do attendees at public meetings reflect the views of the general public?
From a story on the CityLab website….
To understand local housing politics over the past several decades, consider a recent study out of Boston University. Political science professor Katherine Levine Einstein surveyed all of the minutes for zoning and planning meetings about housing across 97 cities and counties in Massachusetts…
“In every single city and county we studied, the advantaged dominated the proceedings,” Einstein said at a recent Brookings Institution panel on housing. Residents who are older, men, longtime residents, local voters, and homeowners are much more likely to participate in these meetings. And they are much more likely to oppose new construction than the general public.
Residents who oppose new housing are also
The reality of seniors and housing
The recent statement from this presentation from Right Sized Newton (page 12) that “… seniors overwhelmingly DO NOT WANT to live in luxury high-rise rental apartments” is simply not true. I say this based on academic background; extended membership/ leadership of the...
Housing proposed at former ApGuJung restaurant
The Newton Highlands Area Council will hear a presentation Thursday Nov. 1 for an approximately 42 unit residential development at 1114 Beacon Street (the former ApGuJung restaurant) at Newton Four Corners. This meeting starts at at 7:30 p.m. at the Brigham House,...
Fuller joins coalition of mayors pledging to build more housing
Newton Mayor Ruthanne Fuller has joined a coalition of 15 greater mayors to set a goal to add 185,000 new homes in Greater Boston by 2030. Details about the Metropolitan Mayors Coalition can be found here and a list of participants and data here.
But there’s also this comment from Fuller in
Study asks if public meetings comments represent views on housing
A new study by a team of researchers at Boston University uses data from public meeting minutes to explore whether or not those who participate in public comment periods reflect the larger community’s views when it comes to housing. There’s a lot of data here so you...What is going on with housing prices?
This originally appeared in City Councilor Jake Auchincloss’ email newsletter. Debates about housing dynamics are often vague, anectdotal, and ad hominem. So, here’s an attempt to explain housing prices concretely, empirically, and systemically: Housing prices...Newton joins coalition committed to new housing
Newton has joined a coalition of 14 Boston-area cities and towns have pledged to work together to address the region’s severe housing shortage. The groups goals, according to this story in the Boston Business Journal, include.. Speed up housing construction Create...
What does it take to make ends meet in Newton? A cost-of-living breakdown
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
Kathleen Kouril Grieser’s fake math
This one has been bugging me for a week but I’m just getting to it now. In last week’s TAB, of anti-housing group Newton Villages Alliance makes this rather bold — and I’d argue entirely unsubstantiated — statement.
It is indisputable that Newton residents reject high-density residential projects because every one that has been proposed has encountered intense local opposition.
Kouril Grieser offers no evidence to support her declaration other than the fact that
Crazy Divers: Men be like...
drivers man be like