Louisville Metro Council close to passing anti-displacement tool after years of efforts
Louisville Metro Council could vote on a new tool Thursday that aims to help prevent residents from being priced out of their neighborhoods. The council unanimously passed legislation a year ago requiring the city to create an anti-displacement assessment tool.
After months of delays, the finished product is now publicly available and on the verge of becoming a groundbreaking example for city governments that want to tackle unwanted displacement and gentrification.
A new report shows how public land could be a solution to Greater Boston’s housing problems
The cost to rent or buy a home in Greater Boston are some of the highest in the country. In April, the median price for a single family home was $950,000, according to the Greater Boston Association of Realtors. A recent report by Boston Indicators, the research arm of The Boston Foundation, highlights one possible solution: building housing on empty public land. The report found that developing on just 5% of public land in Greater Boston could create 85,000 new homes.
Here’s how one group proposes the building of 85,000 housing units on public land in Boston
The average single-family home price in greater Boston is almost $800,000 and a housing shortage is deepening. That’s got regional and state leaders turning to the potential of vacant, publicly owned land as a place to build more homes. State or local governments own more than 110,000 acres of land in the region that could be developed, philanthropic group The Boston Foundation said in its 2024 Greater Boston Housing Report Card published this month. If development happened on just 5% of the land, the organization calculates, the region could produce more than 85,000 new homes. That would make a dent in the state of Massachusetts’ goal to produce 200,000 homes by 2030.
‘There’s No Way Through This but Forward’
No matter your political leanings, policy preferences, or preferred candidates, the presidential re-election of Donald Trump presents serious challenges for the health of the public on a local, national, and global scale. Trump’s Cabinet nominations thus far have provided a clear window into the direction his administration hopes to take on a number of health issues. Below, members of the SPH community share what a second Trump administration means to them personally and to the public health issues that matters most to them—and how we can remain optimistic and embrace opportunities to make progress towards a safer and healthier world.
Could public land help alleviate Boston’s housing crisis? A new report suggests so
The Boston Foundation released its annual Greater Boston Housing Report Card this morning. The data, compiled by the foundation’s think tank Boston Indicators, gives insight into a number of housing market factors — from rent and home sale prices to rates of housing instability. The 2024 report also looks at an untapped resource researchers say may help alleviate the state’s housing crisis: Public land.
Where can Massachusetts build more housing? How about publicly owned land?
Ask people why we don’t build more housing in Greater Boston, and some will say there just isn’t enough land here anymore. As the region has grown, the developable land in Boston and its surrounding cities and suburbs has been snatched up and built out, which makes solving a housing crisis that demands building thousands of new homes a tricky prospect.
Public Land Could Generate 85K New Homes, Report Says
Public property dispositions are a missed opportunity to ramp up housing production in Massachusetts amid the downturn in multifamily construction, according to a new report. The Boston Foundation’s 2024 Greater Boston Housing Report Card estimates that 85,000 housing units could be created if just 5 percent of vacant public parcels were developed.
Louisville committee votes to move forward new tool to combat gentrification
The Louisville Metro Council passed an Anti-Displacement Ordinance in 2023 to combat gentrification, including a tool to assess whether a developer’s project could displace residents. While it has taken longer than expected to finalize the tool, the Planning and Zoning Committee put it to a vote Tuesday.
Anti-gentrification tool moves closer to final approval in Metro Louisville
A new “anti-displacement assessment tool” that could help Metro Council members gauge how large developments might harm nearby residents is moving closer to final approval. The Louisville Metro Council’s Planning and Zoning Commission gave the tool approval Tuesday, one year after the council approved the ordinance that created the tool. Since then, it has been in development by researchers at several universities and Metro government.
Despite reform efforts, inventory and price pressures continue to drag on housing market, 2024 Housing Report Card finds
Greater Boston’s well-publicized housing challenges continue, even as communities work to change zoning rules to comply with the state’s new MBTA Communities requirements, according to the 2024 Greater Boston Housing Report Card. The Report Card, released today at the Boston Foundation, notes that a lack of new construction, high interest rates, and changing demographics continue to slow sales and increase costs. However, the report sees promise in new policy initiatives. In a special section authored by a team from the Boston University Initiative on Cities, the report highlights the opportunity presented by freeing up publicly owned, vacant or underused land for affordable development – and the obstacles that are keeping it from happening.