Using tax dollars to block new housing is bad policy

Ashland and another dirty dozen Greater Boston communities were identified in a recent report published by the research arm of the Boston Foundation as places where “Public opposition to housing is so extreme. . . that public land has become weaponized as a tool to stop housing development, rather than an opportunity to subsidize affordable housing.”

Louisville Advances the Country’s Strongest Planning Tool to Mitigate Displacement

Led by the Initiative on Cities at Boston University, Loretta Lees (Boston University), Kenton Card (University of Minnesota and Boston University) and Andre Comandon (University of Southern California) developed a new tool to be implemented by the Louisville Metro Government to guide decisions about residential investments. The tool is the result of a collaboration with a tenant union, government officials, and Councilmember Jecorey Arthur to implement the policy.

Greater Boston housing report card is ‘sobering’

When the Boston Foundation presented its 2024 annual Greater Boston housing report card at an event Nov. 12, the results weren’t particularly positive. “This year’s housing report is certainly sobering, it offers further evidence of the challenges we continue to face,” said M. Lee Pelton, president and CEO of the Boston Foundation. Housing costs have risen greatly since 2015, and while the report found that rent costs have plateaued, they had leveled off at historic highs. At the same time, despite some efforts to support new construction, high construction costs have slowed production. A modest increase in the number of permits issued in the 2010s has given way to another slowdown.

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.