2025 Midyear Review
2025 has been a busy year already for Housing Forward. Over the first half of the year we have been active in supporting a range of new pro-housing legislation at the state house, collaborating with allies to encourage municipal zoning reforms around the state, and continuing to publish top notch policy research to help guide the conversation around housing and development in Massachusetts.
Your support has been crucial to this work and we look forward to continuing the pro-housing fight alongside you throughout the rest of this year and beyond. Below we get into more detail on the work that has been done and is ongoing.
Review of Publications:
2025 Legislative Priorities
HHousing Forward has highlighted six legislative proposals for 2025 that would directly help address the Commonwealth’s housing shortage. These bills would expand opportunities for by-right housing development, modernize outdated financial incentives for municipalities, and open new pathways for reasonably priced housing on underutilized properties, including land owned by religious organizations. Several proposals also seek to streamline local permitting and approval processes to reduce unnecessary delays in housing production. Together, these initiatives build on the momentum of recent reforms and represent critical next steps toward creating a more affordable, sustainable, and inclusive housing landscape for Massachusetts. Click here for all of the details on our 2025 Legislative Priorities.
What is Rent Control? Stabilizing the Debate
As part of our ongoing mission to produce data backed policy research we examined the reemergence of rent control proposals across the country through a close analysis of historical and contemporary models. Evidence from cities such as New York, St. Paul, Minnesota, and Portland, Maine demonstrate that broad rent control policies discourage new housing development, ultimately reducing the supply of affordable units, and unintentionally providing greater benefits to higher-income households. Our report emphasizes the need for a targeted, data-informed approach to any new regulation with the goal of protecting vulnerable tenants while supporting new housing production. Thoughtful, localized strategies will be essential to addressing affordability challenges without compromising long-term housing growth in Massachusetts. Click here for the full report.
What We’re Working On:
Cambridge Inclusionary Zoning Mandates
Executive Director Josh Zakim recently testified at the Cambridge City Council in support of efforts to reduce that city’s inclusionary zoning requirement from the current 20% rate. The Council voted unanimously to ask the City Manager to review and consider reductions to the current policy. Josh’s written testimony is available here.
Rules That Build: Modernizing Inclusionary Development to Support Housing Production
Inclusionary Development Policies (IDPs) can serve as an important lever for producing affordable housing and advancing socioeconomic integration, but they also impose significant costs on new development. These costs can suppress overall housing production while driving up prices on market-rate units that are built. Yet in high-cost regions, IDPs also serve as a tool for maintaining affordable housing and socioeconomic integration. Especially in challenging economic times as we are in today, Policymakers must be open to refining these rules—through density bonuses, expedited permitting, and recalibrated affordability requirements—to support new housing production and ultimately provide the reasonably priced homes that everyone needs. Be on the lookout for the full report later this year.
Where We’ve Been:
Housing Forward-MA continues to collaborate with allies across the state who are focused on accelerating housing production in Massachusetts. We regularly engage with stakeholders and community leaders in productive discussion about public perceptions of housing in the Commonwealth. These collaborations offer a valuable opportunity to share insights from our ongoing research and to support others in applying those findings within their own communities and professional practices. We've received great feedback on our Planning for New Housing research and policy suggestions. Those lessons continue to be useful as cities and towns implement new housing plans under the MBTA Communities Act.
What We’re Watching:
The impact of tariffs on materials costs. Massachusetts spent $279-million on Canadian lumber products in 2023. As materials costs continue to rise, starts on already-approved projects are likely to slow down further. Additionally, tariffs may deepen our affordability crisis by raising home insurance rates at an 11% average cost increase due to higher replacement costs.
Implementation of the Affordable Homes Act through the Momentum Fund. Construction costs have increased by 40% since 2020 while net operating incomes have remained relatively stagnant, making it harder for new projects to begin. Massachusetts is using its resources and might to help development projects clear these financial hurdles and get built.
The current state of housing in Massachusetts. The Commonwealth was given an F grade and ranked 50th in the nation based on our current housing affordability and homebuilding; the median single-family home price is now $930,000. Meanwhile, New Hampshire received a C- and ranked 41st due, in large part, to their ability to build homes.
Whether Canada can implement the Liberal Party's housing plan under newly elected Prime Minister Mark Carney. This plan shares many of the same investment strategies as the Massachusetts Affordable Homes Act, like the Momentum Fund's direct investment into new developments. The Canadian housing plan's financial incentives and regulatory streamlining for prefabricated and standardized housing designs are noteworthy. As market conditions in the United States continue to be challenging, Canada's efforts could be instructive as we work to address our future housing needs.