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Almost every issue straining Massachusetts resources right now has a housing dimension – how densely cities and towns should build near transit, where the young professionals critical to the state’s economic well-being can live, how those living on coastlines endangered by climate change should plan, and what size community supports a thriving school system without overwhelming it, for a start.
The scale of the Bay State housing crunch was somewhat amorphous at the start of the Healey administration. Housing organizations offered a ballpark figure of 200,000 units needed by 2035 to meet demand and bring down costs, and a recent assessment from the state says that guess was about at least 22,000 units short. Officials and advocates have long said there is no “silver bullet" to plug that hole, but a patchwork of policy changes could, in theory, make a dent.
This week on The Codcast, reporter Jennifer Smith catches up with Housing Secretary Ed Augustus, who heads the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities. He describes a “singles and doubles” approach rather than a single grand-slam policy to ease the housing crunch.
The housing office is juggling a struggling emergency shelter system, pushback to showpiece initiatives like the multi-family zoning MBTA Communities law, and expanding accessory dwelling units to all single-family districts. Added to that is a federal administration hostile to many state priorities with a tendency toward unpredictable economic swings like new tariffs pointed at the country’s largest trading partners.
Developers are cautious, keeping an eye on potential changes to steel, lumber, and electricity prices, Augustus noted. “That’s the exact opposite of what we need,” he said. “We need folks jumping in, moving these projects forward, investing in these projects, not sitting on the sidelines because of this unnecessary uncertainty and ambiguity.”
During the episode, Augustus discusses Trump tariffs (04:30), the relationship between city and state policymakers from a former city manager perspective (12:00), and whether the ambitious housing goals are even achievable in the current climate (29:00). |
