On Sept. 21, Maura Healey, the Democratic nominee for governor in Massachusetts, released her policy plan to tackle the housing crisis in the state. The plan focuses heavily on increasing housing production, preserving current housing options and supporting homeless individuals and families through strengthening the state’s rent assistance program.
In Somerville, 5,000 households currently spend over 50% of their monthly income on rent and the price of a one-bedroom apartment has risen 26% in the last year. Karissa Hand, Healey’s press secretary, detailed how Healey’s plan would mitigate the housing crisis in communities like Somerville.
“Maura believes the most important way to reign in housing costs is to preserve and expand the housing stock,” Hand wrote in an email to the Daily. “Her plan outlines … setting new, more aggressive production goals that build on Housing Choice, including spurring development of new units around MBTA stations.”
Jeff Byrnes, an activist with Somerville YIMBY — a group advocating for increased housing — expressed support for this detail of Healey’s plan.
“I think the big highlights here is the plan really clearly calls out that we don’t have enough homes for everyone who does live here and wants to live here,” Byrnes said. “We keep creating more opportunities for people for employment in Massachusetts, but we have not kept up with the housing needs that those employment opportunities generate.”
Byrnes also recognized the challenge of addressing the housing shortage.
“The plan calls out really specifically that we’re about 100,000 homes underwater … that’s a huge number. We haven’t built 100,000 homes in a single year, much less a single decade in a very long time — at least 50 years, if not more,” Byrnes said. “Imagine building three and a half Somervilles in less than five years. That’s the kind of production we need to catch up and get ahead.”
Byrnes does believe this gap can be filled, citing other cities as proof of concept.
“Paris has 53,000 people per square mile. Somerville has 19,000 people per square mile. So even though we’re the densest community in New England, we don’t even come close to a city like Paris,” Byrnes said. “Clearly, Somerville, Cambridge, Boston, and all the other communities around here can accommodate a lot more people before it starts to be really challenging.”
Healey’s plan also aims at “empowering communities like Somerville to enact local policies that best address their own, unique housing challenges, while encouraging regional cooperation and technical assistance,” Hand wrote. “This may include local rent stabilization policies, zoning reforms to allow housing at greater densities, and/or specific housing production supports.”
Tufts economics professor Jeffrey Zabel expressed skepticism at how feasible this would be, citing that homeowners may wish to restrict the supply of housing so the prices remain high.
“[Homeowners] have a real incentive to press their elected officials to enact zoning rules that limit supply. The only way we’re going to get around that is to enact policies at a higher level, like the state level,” Zabel said. “I just don’t think it’s going to happen overnight. But I think it’s certainly is something that is really important, and I support that proposal.”
Addressing Healey’s proposed development of new units around MBTA stations, Zabel generally supported the idea but also voiced some concerns.
“The problem is that it puts a lot of pressure on areas that are near MBTA stations … I like the idea of smart growth, but I think it’s something that has to expand beyond just nearby MBTA stations to really be effective,” Zabel said. “I think it’s a good idea, you know, in terms of minimizing reliance on cars … because one of the complaints about increasing supply or density is increased traffic.”
Byrnes argued that the issue of affordable housing transcends conventional left-right divisions and can appeal to a wide range of ideologies.
“The housing issue isn’t a left-right thing … changing zoning to relax regulations is a libertarian vibe. You know, that’s a deregulation thing. But at the same time, you could also think of it as a liberalization,” Byrnes said. “We’re harnessing capitalism, which is generally not a concept the left prefers, in order to satisfy a broad social need, which is an abundance of homes which is a broad socialist and leftist concern.”
While Zabel does not predict Healey will face electoral defeat, he anticipates challenges to this plan.
“I expect that she will win … [and] she should have a reasonably good chance of implementing a lot of her policies,” Zabel said. “A lot of it, to me, is also a matter of preferences of the residents of Massachusetts. … It’s not free. How much are you willing to pay … to improve affordable housing?”
