Housing advocates press state lawmakers for solutions to high rents, low availability

BOSTON — While Massachusetts lawmakers have failed to act on the $4 billion housing bond bill proposed by Gov. Maura Healey that promises to mitigate the state's housing crisis, state officials must invest in short-term solutions and emergency interventions while waiting for the benefits of the massive investment in public and private housing to pay off.

“Ed Augustus (secretary of housing and livable communities) tells the story at meetings around the state of the mom with two kids facing a huge rent increase,” said Carolyn Chou, the new executive director of Homes for All, a tenant-forward coalition that has added influencing governmental policy to its priorities. “But that mother will be evicted years before there is new housing in place for her and her family.”

Healey estimates the state has a deficit of 200,000 housing units. The Affordable Homes Act proposes investing more than $1 billion in revitalizing public housing complexes and funds incentives for private housing production.

Chou and Leah Bradley, CEO of Central Massachusetts Housing Alliance, believe the state must act now to address the shortage and high cost of dwelling units and to stabilize families at risk of losing housing. While they are hopeful that the bond bill if passed will eventually ease the crunch, Massachusetts residents need relief now, they said.

All sectors of society are affected: senior citizens who cannot afford their family homes yet can’t afford to move, low-income residents facing astronomical rent increases, and even middle-income residents earning between $75,000 and $80,000 are at risk, Bradley said.

“In Worcester we have a vacancy rate of .05%,” Bradley said, explaining that a healthy vacancy rate is between 5% and 7%. She likened the quest for a place to live to “musical chairs,” someone inevitably goes without “and that is usually the most vulnerable populations.”

And it’s not just rental prices in Worcester and Greater Boston that are soaring. It’s statewide. The hikes benefit landlords and homeowners, driving up competition for existing units both in the rental and purchasing markets.

A researcher with the Pioneer Institute for Public Policy Research found the long slide into lack of affordable dwellings stems from the 1991 recession. That dip in housing production continued for decades even as the population of Greater Boston grew by more than 10% and almost 1 million new jobs were created.

Unavailable, unaffordable

“Housing in Boston has become increasingly unaffordable and increasingly unavailable as well,” said Andrew Mikula, author of “Supply Stagnation: The Root Cause of Greater Boston’s Housing Crisis.” Included as factors in the lack of availability were the current rising interest rates and material and construction costs, coupled with political and policy decisions on local and state levels.

While jobs jumped by 822,000 between 2002 and 2022, the number of housing units increased by only 246,000, lagging behind local needs for decades, according to the report. Between 2022 and 2023, Boston gained 16,000 residents and 12,000 new jobs, with another 12,000 jobs created in the last six months.

Mikula named two other factors in the dearth of housing options for the vast majority of state residents: municipal land-use regulations and political resistance to new construction.

Local governments dictate land-use policies, including lot sizes, setbacks, parking requirements, density restrictions and where housing can be located in a community. Land in Massachusetts is very expensive, second only to Rhode Island. Minimum lot sizes and off-street parking requirements can eat up development dollars. Mikula found that many approved developments were not constructed due to costs.

Landlords and homeowners are often quick to oppose new construction, Mikula said, finding that high rental prices work in their favor. He found other political considerations come into play: fear of loss of property value, a perceived loss of open space, traffic issues, gentrification and fear that a community will “lose its unique character.”

Fixes within the purview of government suggested in the report include zoning reform and educating the public to counter “not in my backyard” opposition. New housing construction, according to the report, has minimal effect on property values, municipal services and school overcrowding, all factors cited by construction opponents.

Municipal aide for infrastructure and schools could be tied to a community’s housing policies as a way to incentivize collaboration between municipalities and align zoning with housing needs, according to the report.

Mass. stands to lose young adult population

Housing issues reverberate throughout society. Mikula found that residents between 26 and 35 were most affected by the lack of dwelling space. That shortage could affect their decision to move to the state, stay in Massachusetts to raise families or leave because it is unaffordable in the long run.

“What we’re starting to see in Greater Boston is a pattern where working-class residents, service providers, health care workers, teachers, municipal employees are being priced out of the city and forced to move,” Chou said.

“They were our heroes, essential workers, but now that can’t afford to live where they have their community supports, their families, schools, work, where they are able to thrive,” Bradley said.

Those essential workers are looking further and further from their workplaces and their support communities, Chou said, quoting a recent conversation with Rep. Natalie Higgins, D-Leominster, who said people were commuting to Boston from Leominster.

“We want to make sure that people stay in the communities where they want to live,” Chou said. “The housing crisis is deeply connected to the emergency shelter crisis.”

Rent increases, foreclosures and emergency situations can force people into homelessness, which has profound physical and psychological effects, Bradley said, predicting that the health and social impacts of the housing and homelessness crisis will become apparent in the next two or three years.

One crisis away from homelessness

“Keeping folks in their homes is more cost effective than lifting them out of homelessness,” Bradley said. She said it costs an average of $100,000 to keep a family in an emergency shelter, and suggested the state invest in prevention programs to keep people in their homes instead.

The alliance is working with UMass on a three-year program that would identify families as they teeter on the edge of financial crisis to offer them financial supports. The “shallow subsidy,” $500 a month over six months, would remove one stressor.

“The subsidy would prevent them from falling behind in their rent,” Bradley said, outlining a possible situation such as a family illness or loss of income. The pilot program has capacity for 25 families at a time. “It’s an opportunity for us to prove that if help arrives earlier as a crisis unfolds, it could serve to stabilize a family and keep them housed.”

In Worcester, the city used $1 million of its federal American Rescue Plan Act funds to help tenants in arrears with their rent, said Bradley.

State could invest in rental assistance programs, vouchers

Somerville announced its rental assistance program in March. Mayor Katjana Ballantyne said low-income families participating in the new program would have rent and utilities capped at 30% of their household income with the city picking up any unpaid rental costs.

Ballantyne said officials were aware that families in need of housing help are falling through the gaps.

“Our new voucher program will help Somerville families that need it, most secure stable, local housing so they can continue to thrive here,” Ballantyne said. “Our Housing Needs Assessment showed that households with young children and households including persons of color, especially Black and Latino persons, are disproportionately impacted by local affordable housing challenges.”

Homes for All is supporting bills that would allow municipalities to opt in to rent stabilization measures and limit foreclosures. The group also suggests that increasing housing subsidy vouchers is a way to support residents facing rent increases and evictions.

“We’re talking 21st-century rent stabilization,” Chou said, explaining that the measure would allow for reasonable rent increases, possibly tied to the consumer price index and cost-of-living measures. It would also exempt owner-occupied units of four units or fewer.

The organization grew out of several grassroots groups that offered supports for residents facing evictions; that was our primary role, Chou said. Since then, the group has become a vehicle to change statewide housing policy.

“Our immediate focus is to keep people housed,” Chou said. Rent stabilization offers eviction protections, “they go hand in hand.”

Both Bradley and Mikula discussed the plight of the state’s senior citizens. Mikula found that they were drivers in the lack of adequate housing to keep them aging in their communities.

“Seniors are on a fixed income. If they are renters and their rent increases, they could get evicted. If they are homeowners, they may not be able to afford to make repairs,” Bradley said. “It’s getting to the point where it’s catastrophic.”

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Housing advocates press Mass. lawmakers for solutions to crisis