Housing (Supply Crisis & Public Policy)

If we can't build housing in Western Mass where tourism and service work are kiiiiind of all they have, it's a pretty bad sign for the rest of the commonwealth.
 
Justbuildit said:
If we can't build housing in Western Mass where tourism and service work are kiiiiind of all they have, it's a pretty bad sign for the rest of the commonwealth.
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There obviously isn't going to be much demand. I mean, it's Western Mass. What do you expect?
 
The whole point of the article is that rapidly rising demand is pricing out locals who were adapted to a lower cost of living, and that it hasn't been replaced with increases in housing supply. Building more housing, especially workforce housing is the answer:

Both [worker housing] properties are much needed in Berkshire County, where high housing costs and a tight market in towns like Great Barrington and Stockbridge have made it challenging for workers in sectors such as education and health care to find a place to live. The apartment vacancy rate in the county is 3.7 percent, down from 6.2 in 2018, and evictions have nearly doubled, according to the UMass Donahue Institute, which studies housing.
[...]
In Berkshire County, new construction has been even more anemic, said Brad Gordon, executive director of UpSide413, a nonprofit organization that provides housing services. Many towns have sought to preserve their rural character by passing zoning rules requiring two- or three-acre sites for new homes, making it expensive to build, he said. The lack of sewage and water services has further limited new construction.
 
themissinglink said:
If there isn't much demand for housing in the Berkshires, then why is the vacancy rate so low?
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AirBnBs?

And there's a ton of apartments in Albany. Granted, I don't think you would want to live in Albany, but hey.
 
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Does anyone else worry about the amount of apartment-style housing built as car-oriented development? Stuff like NOBO in Saugus, etc. Not just from a "we need more TOD" perspective, but also because there are only so many people who are in the market for an apartment, whether rented or owned, and if too much of the apartment demand is built with cars in mind, there won't be enough demand for something like Suffolk Downs that's more transit-oriented.

I'm approaching this from the perspective that, while a lot of policy is focused on allowing denser housing options just about anywhere (see stuff like HB631 in NH), is there any consideration that this might hurt demand for apartments in areas where people might actually use something other than a car to get around? Would love to see some more robust research on this, but I haven't had any luck so far.
 
Oh, the Massachusetts housing market—truly a masterclass in daylight robbery. Developers crank out cookie-cutter apartments, slap on a few stainless-steel appliances, surprise!!!! $3,000 to $4,000 for a one or two-bedroom box with “luxury” Unit. And if the rents don’t roll in? No problem! Just pivot to Section 8 and let taxpayers' foot the bill. Brilliant business model, really—if you’re the developer.

Meanwhile, the working class? Congratulations, you’re now subsidizing overpriced shoeboxes you can’t afford to live in. What a deal! It’s almost poetic.

Here’s a radical thought: Instead of this endless cycle of urban extortion, how about we build out transit that is 21st century—North, South, West—so people can actually get in and out of the city without sitting in soulless traffic all day? Then, use that infrastructure to create housing projects that don’t require a taxpayers trust fund to rent out. Revolutionary idea, I know.
 
www.bostonglobe.com

‘Too many obstacles’: Despite statewide legalization, backyard homes haven’t boomed in Mass. - The Boston Globe

Despite a new law that aims to ease construction of accessory dwelling units in Massachusetts, relatively few are being built so far.
www.bostonglobe.com www.bostonglobe.com
Through the first six months of 2025, the state saw 884 applications for ADUs across 170 communities, and at least 550 had been approved, according to the state’s Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities. (The data likely undercount applications, the state said, as many municipalities did not respond to its survey.)
[...]
The 2024 law allows the units to be built on most residential lots in the state by right, meaning they do not need special approval from a local zoning board, so long as they are smaller than 900 square feet. (The law does not apply to Boston, meaning the city is now the only community in the state that does not broadly allow the units by-right on single-family lots.)
But the rule allows communities to have some “reasonable restrictions,” including over setbacks from the property line, that still present challenges for builders. Watertown and Lowell, for instance, have conflicting ideas of how a separate ADU structure should be connected to a house, Lee said.
Even those small differences mean the permitting process for ADUs remains complicated and drawn out; even though they have little say in overall design, the boards that issue building permits still fuss over small details.
It takes Lee twice as long to permit an ADU in Massachusetts as it does in Maine, he said, because Maine’s small town governments don’t regulate those small details as much. In some extreme instances, it has taken his company a full year or more to win permits for projects in Massachusetts. That ultimately adds time and expense, he said, and limits the number of units his company can produce. In Chelmsford, for example, homeowner Farokh Karani was denied a permit for an ADU next to his house earlier this year because he wanted to build a second driveway to access the additional unit. Chelmsford’s ADU ordinance does not allow for a second driveway.
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22marc said:
Thank you, JohnnyrocketGPT.
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Even AI can see it: the state has become a machine of corruption, driven by corporate interests.
  • Cost of Living continues to rise at a staggering pace, thanks to the “efficiency” of our federal and state governments.
  • Traffic Congestion is worse than ever, with no real solutions in sight.
  • Taxpayers are footing the bill for sanctuary cities while struggling themselves.
  • Insurance Companies are raking in profits off the backs of the working class in Massachusetts.
  • Home Insurance alone jumped 15–20% this year.
Meanwhile, our beloved senators—worth tens of millions—live comfortably on taxpayer-funded salaries of $200K a year. Imagine the side deals being cut with corporations behind closed doors.
And what about the $109 billion in Massachusetts state debt? Will we pay it off with coupons and rebates?
Or the $38 trillion federal debt? Will we enslave our children so BlackRock and JPMorgan can build box housing projects, suppress are constitutional rights, and pocket $100-million bonuses—all on the backs of American taxpayers?
This is the loot of a nation, and the math doesn’t lie. A reset is coming those in power should be held on treason.

This isn't about Republican & Democrat this is about destroying our Freedoms by printing unlimited amounts of money to bail out a few billionaires & the political elite class.
 
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Massachusetts law (Constitutional Amendment Article LXIII & MGL Chapter 29, Section 6E) mandates a balanced budget for each fiscal year, preventing the state from carrying over a deficit. So what debt are you referring to?
 
Yes you are right-- Massachusetts does not carry forward an operating deficit, but it does maintain billions in bond debt and unfunded obligations,
Bonds (Capital expenditures)
unfunded Pensions
Retirees Healthcare

The Math matters, Balanced budgets don't erase decades of borrowing and unfunded promises. Its real.

Debt to GDP Ratio is the highest New England


That's why in America is lacking quality which is deteriorating for products & services because of the overall debt. Will innovation and AI help us, possibly but our freedoms are compromised without acknowledging the current decline.

The fact we are in this much debt and the Traffic, Healthcare and housing, food costs are out of control. What does that tell you?
 
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Johnnyrocket891 said:
Even AI can see it: the state has become a machine of corruption, driven by corporate interests.
  • Cost of Living continues to rise at a staggering pace, thanks to the “efficiency” of our federal and state governments.
  • Traffic Congestion is worse than ever, with no real solutions in sight.
  • Taxpayers are footing the bill for sanctuary cities while struggling themselves.
  • Insurance Companies are raking in profits off the backs of the working class in Massachusetts.
  • Home Insurance alone jumped 15–20% this year.
Meanwhile, our beloved senators—worth tens of millions—live comfortably on taxpayer-funded salaries of $200K a year. Imagine the side deals being cut with corporations behind closed doors.
And what about the $109 billion in Massachusetts state debt? Will we pay it off with coupons and rebates?
Or the $38 trillion federal debt? Will we enslave our children so BlackRock and JPMorgan can build box housing projects, suppress are constitutional rights, and pocket $100-million bonuses—all on the backs of American taxpayers?
This is the loot of a nation, and the math doesn’t lie. A reset is coming those in power should be held on treason.

This isn't about Republican & Democrat this is about destroying our Freedoms by printing unlimited amounts of money to bail out a few billionaires & the political elite class.
Click to expand...

Sir, this is a Wendy's.
 
Johnnyrocket891 said:
Yes you are right-- Massachusetts does not carry forward an operating deficit, but it does maintain billions in bond debt and unfunded obligations,
Bonds (Capital expenditures)
unfunded Pensions
Retirees Healthcare

The Math matters, Balanced budgets don't erase decades of borrowing and unfunded promises. Its real.

Debt to GDP Ratio is the highest New England


That's why in America is lacking quality which is deteriorating for products & services because of the overall debt. Will innovation and AI help us, possibly but our freedoms are compromised without acknowledging the current decline.

The fact we are in this much debt and the Traffic, Healthcare and housing, food costs are out of control. What does that tell you?
Click to expand...
You keep editing your posts
 
Seems like the Bershires is suffering from the same issues as many Cape towns: Too many homes as investment properties/vacation homes/short term rentals and not enough for actual workers to live in. I don't think increasing supply of housing alone will fix that. For one, I believe it's a symptom of increasing wealth inequality where well-off people have extra to money to spend on 2nd and 3rd homes, and to a lesser extent corporations buying up homes for profit. At the local and state levels, I believe the solution is regulation that limits ownership or significantly taxes vacation and investment properties in certain high-demand areas.
 
Restricting who can buy houses means the value of any house in those regions will plummet, probably crushing the total wealth of locals who have owned for a long time and may be ready to retire, move, whatever. Giving tax abatements to full time residents (like Boston), therefore taxing part time residents, seems like a reasonable solution, and then actually making the decision to address the issue by building new housing stock that is dedicated to lower income residents is critical.

All of this is a sign of prosperity for these areas; we need to make sure that the value is captured and provided to those critical for getting the work done.
 
Not sure how Boston Homeowners are going to take a 13% spike in real estate taxes along home insurance spiking.

Boston stuck in tax standoff as crisis looms​


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As Blackrock is sitting waiting to buy your properties with our tax dollars. The ultimate swindle job by our state & federal leaders to their personal private corporate donors.
 
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