Healey’s Massachusetts Gets a Failing Grade for Housing Affordability

Massachusetts is failing miserably in addressing the housing affordability crisis. Only Rhode Island scores worse than the Bay State in the Realtor.com "Grading the States: Affordability & Homebuilding Report Cards" issued last month.

Realtor.com said Massachusetts and Rhode Island were among seven states to receive failing grades in its assessment of which states are addressing housing affordability issues.

State House News Service stated that the report includes "rankings based on price, income-based housing affordability metrics and assessments of the ability to meet supply challenges through new construction."

Realtor.com reported, "Since the Great Recession, a housing supply gap has emerged across the United States due to roughly a decade of underbuilding, leaving the country short about 4 million homes."

SHNS reported that "Among states with failing grades, Rhode Island had the lowest grade, at 12.2, followed by Massachusetts at 12.6. New York, Hawaii, California, Connecticut, and Oregon also received failing grades."

SHNS stated, "Southern and western states where large and growing populations create more demand for housing are building the most homes."

The report states, "Massachusetts, which received an overall F resulting from low scores in both affordability and homebuilding, serves as an example of how zoning can get in the way of delivering affordable housing."

Realtor.com further stated, "Zoning code in Massachusetts is complex and hard to navigate." The site said, "All of this regulatory complexity costs builders time and money, and those costs are passed on to homeowners."

"The builders that do manage to operate in Massachusetts have extra costs imposed on them, but many potential home building projects simply are not allowed to occur," according to Realtor.com.

The Healey administration has a plan to increase the statewide supply of year-round housing by 222,000 units over the next decade, a 79 percent increase in supply

New Bedford Jon Mitchell is pushing for zoning changes to simplify the construction of accessory dwelling units and for new housing north of downtown.