Why is it becoming so hard to afford a home in Massachusetts?
About 400,000 adults across the state are living with their parents, home inventory remains tight, and experts say the region’s home-price-to-income ratio has doubled over the past 40 years.
Some experts say the solution is straightforward: build more housing. But zoning restrictions, construction rules and opposition from residents can make that much easier said than done.
You are a prospective homebuyer or renter in Massachusetts.
Prices just are not pretty.
Question seven on minimum lot sizes was hotly contested,
but that ultimately failed.
So the question remains, what's it going
to take to make housing more affordable?
Boston 25's Daniel Coates went to the experts working
on the front lines to find out.
About 400,000 adults in Massachusetts are living with their parents,
right now with more heading out of state for lower costs.
That has many asking the question,
can our state build its way out of an affordable housing crisis?
We're seeing the price of homes like this continue to increase
in value a lot, including 40-50% in the last 5 or 6 years.
Neighborhoods like this in Lynn,
lined with what should be entry-level homes for first-time buyers,
are becoming out of reach.
So in the past 40 years,
we've seen the median home price to income ratio
in the region double.
And we've also seen just in the past six years,
the number of active home listings on the market
declined by about 30%.
Andrew McCool, chief housing economist
at the Pioneer Institute,
has been tracking the troubling trajectory.
A proponent for ballot question seven,
he and his team have been pushing the state this fall
to build their way out of this crisis.
You know, even if the new house
isn't affordable to everyone,
It's still worth building in a lot of cases
because that's accommodating new demand
that otherwise would have gone to bid up
the existing housing stock price.
But building is a challenge in the Bay State
and is often not welcomed by neighbors.
Boston 25 talked to homeowners in Cambridge frustrated
by construction impacting parking in their neighborhood.
They call it multifamily units,
but what family is going to want to live in this rectangular box
with no green space and no parking?
And concerns over noise pollution, parking problems.
And home values dropping have many
communities saying, not in my backyard.
Is exactly what's driving up housing to make it unaffordable.
Anthony Womacchia, owner of Womacchia Realty,
also says developers are being driven away.
The problem is the state of Massachusetts
and multiple cities and towns continue to make zoning
and building requirements more and more and more strict.
They're way too overly burdensome.
They're way too difficult to deal with.
To address the housing and affordability shortage,
the state has introduced the Affordable Homes Act.
Over the last two years, it's authorized more than $5 billion
to expand housing options statewide.
It's also allowed development on smaller lots
in the hopes prices stabilize.
It's like shooting in the breeze,
you know. It's like you can't get ahead.
You know, you're working just to pay your rent or your mortgage.
So what can you do if you're feeling the squeeze now?
We found renters can apply for up to $7,000
in emergency help through the state's RAFT program.
A notice to quit or a shut-off notice can be enough to qualify.
First-time buyers may qualify for up to $30,000 toward
a down payment through Mass Housing.
And homeowners can now add
an in-law apartment without a special permit.
I think it's totally insane.
I think we need to do something about it.
Other states have seen some results in Austin, Texas.
Aggressive building over the last decade increased
the city's housing inventory by roughly 30%,
dropping median rent rates by about $200 in the last five years.
We put more examples and some program resources we talked about
on our website at boston25news.com.
I'm Daniel Coates for your local station, Boston 25 News.
