Dive Brief:
- The Boston Foundation’s Greater Boston Housing Report Card for 2015 found that, although Boston is enjoying a luxury housing boom, area construction costs are too high to make building middle class housing feasible, WBUR reported.
- Despite a median household income of $58,000 in Boston, the report said it takes an income of at least $100,000 to comfortably afford the median rent.
- Barry Bluestone of Northeastern University analyzed more than 100 rental housing projects built in several states during the last decade, including Massachusetts, and concluded Boston developers cannot build middle class housing at "reasonable price points."
Dive Insight:
The Boston Foundation is calling for zoning reform and more public funding for affordable housing, according to WBUR, and is reassembling its Commonwealth Housing Task Force, with members from the private sector gathering to address the housing shortage and cost of development.
The foundation is also suggesting area hospitals and major universities join with developers to build housing for young professionals, thereby relieving pressure on the traditional working class housing market.
Affordable housing advocate Steve Meacham, of City Life/Vida Urbana, told WBUR, "That’s a good plan. Having the universities and the hospitals create smaller units to house their own professionals would be good." But, he said, "I don’t think it’s going to remove the pressure. I think there’s no way to remove the pressure other than getting some kind of control on the market forces. You have to have an anti-displacement plan along with your housing construction plan."
Bluestone maintains the income disparity between the median household in Boston and rising home values and rents will continue to make it difficult to meet reasonably priced housing demand.
"Unless we can find ways of bringing down land costs, zoning costs, construction costs, it will be almost impossible for any developer to put up housing in Greater Boston that working families can afford," he said.