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Highlights
Goals & Measures
More Information
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Housing
CONTEXT
Housing meets the basic human need for shelter, provides a key building block of livable communities, and is a means to economic opportunity and security—a critical part of an equitable, sustainable and prosperous regional economy. Metropolitan Boston is home to more than 3.3 million people living in 1.3 million households. In the City of Boston, roughly 600,000 people comprise nearly 240,000 households across a variety of housing types--from high-rise apartments to triple-deckers and single-family homes. The housing sector includes homeowners and renters, home builders and the building trades, architects and developers, real estate agents, community development corporations and other nonprofit housing providers, community-based and advocacy groups, banks and mortgage companies, and public housing and public financing agencies. In addition to housing supply and location, affordability is a key issue driving individual and business decisions.
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Housing costs in Boston and Massachusetts have soared since the mid-1990s, and today, Metro Boston is one of the least affordable metropolitan areas in the US for both renters and homebuyers.
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Demographic trends, increasing demand for housing located near public transit, and the new 40R/40S zoning overlay districts available to cities and towns are stimulating "smart growth" development.
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While homeownership rates among people of color and newcomer immigrants in Greater Boston are increasing, the gap in homeownership rates between whites and people of color has also increased.
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Mayor Thomas M. Menino’s "Leading the Way II" campaign exceeded its production target of 10,000 new units, bringing the Leading the Way Initiative total to 18,000.
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Commonwealth Housing Task Force successfully advocated for legislation encouraging 40R/40S zoning overlay districts to stimulate the construction of smart growth and affordable housing.
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Affordable Housing Finance magazine named Maverick Landing its “Best Overall Project” in 2006.
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Local housing costs are a major barrier to attracting and keeping workers and families in Greater Boston and the Commonwealth.
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Despite recent progress in increasing affordable housing in suburban communities, fewer than one in seven Massachusetts communities meets the state goal of 10%.
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Massachusetts has already lost almost 12,000 subsidized units and is at risk of losing 21,948 more by December 31, 2010 through “expiring use.”
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| New @ Indicators | Consumer Resources: Foreclosures and Sub-Prime Lending
Connect to
local, state and Federal resources
addressing foreclosures and sub-prime lending.
Commonwealth Housing Task Force
Connect to the Commonwealth Housing Task Force for updates on housing advocacy in Massachusetts, as well as the most recent
Housing Pipeline Report
and a
Foreclosure Data Snapshot
.
Annual Greater Boston Housing Report Card
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The sixth annual
Greater Boston Housing Report Card
, released on October 28th, shows trends in real estate market conditions, housing affordability and production, and public support for housing, serving as an important tool through which to assess progress in meeting Greater Boston’s housing needs. This report highlights the paradox in Greater Boston as the housing market falters while remaining unaffordable for many.
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Analysis of Loan Servicing Completed
State Foreclosure Prevention Working Group,
Analysis of Subprime Mortgage Servicing Performance - Data Report No. 3
(09/2008): Reports that servicers had increased loan modifications, but during Q2 2008, servicers were increasingly turning to short sales and that 300,000 subprime loans were in the foreclosure process in May 2008.
New Projection of 2 million Foreclosures
Center for Responsible Lending,
Updated Projections of Subprime Foreclosures in the United States and Their Impact on Home Values and Communities
(09/2008): Estimates that more than two million US homes with sub-prime loans will go through foreclosure, and assesses the wider economic impacts of these foreclosures on communities.
Neighborworks Outlines Types of Negative Impacts of Foreclosures
Neighborworks America,
Seven Ways Foreclosures Impact Communities
(08/2008): Although few data is currently available, this frames the potential impacts of foreclosures are on a community.
Annual State of the Nation's Housing report
Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies,
State of the Nation's Housing 2008
(06/2008): Outlines the dramatic changes in the nation's housing market.
The Federal Reserve Assesses the Likely Number of Foreclosures
Federal Reserve Bank of Boston,
Negative Equity and Foreclosure: Theory and Evidence
(06/2008): Looking at the last wave of foreclosures in Massachusetts (early 1990's) this study found that only 10% of those with negative equity lost their homes, making it more difficult to determine who, in the current crises, will need assistance.
Federal Reserve Study on Sub-Prime Loans
Federal Reserve Bank of Boston,
Subprime Facts: What (We Think) We Know about the Subprime Crisis and What We Don’t
(05/2008): Looking at mortgage lending in Massachusetts, this report highlights seven facts about the sub-prime lending crisis (for example: interest rate re-sets did not cause current problems).
Report on Impact of Foreclosures on Renters
National Low Income Housing Coalition, Research Note #08-01:
Properties, Units, and Tenure in the Foreclosure Crisis: An Initial Analysis of Properties at the End of the Foreclosure Process in New England
(05/2008): Highlights the high number of renters who are likely to be affected by foreclosure in New England.
Enterprise Report on Household Energy Savings
Enterprise,
Bringing Home the Benefits of Energy Efficiency to Low-Income Households: The Case for National Commitment
(05/2008): Outlines potential Federal policy initiatives that could save low-income homeowners' energy costs while creating local "green" jobs.
Joint Center Study on Long-Term Affordability Strategies
Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies,
Long-Term Affordable Housing Strategies in Hot Housing Markets
(05/2008): Provides an inventory of housing strategies used across the US to create and maintain long-term, affordable housing units.
Annual NLIHC Report on Rents
National Low Income Housing Coalition,
Out of Reach Report, 2007-2008
(04/2008): NLIHC's annual report on the wages needed to afford housing, by state and metro areas.
Pew Charitable Report on the Response to Foreclosures
Pew Charitable Trusts,
Defaulting on the Dream: States Respond to America's Foreclosure Crisis
(04/2008): Analyzes states' various approaches to the foreclosure crises.
Boston Foreclosure Trends
City of Boston Department of Neighborhood Development,
2007 Foreclosure Trends
(04/2008): An annual report on Boston's foreclosure trends that highlights the 169% increase in foreclosures from 2006 to 2007 and the geographic concentration of the problem.
Joint Center Report on US Rental Housing Demand and Supply
Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies,
America's Rental Housing: The Key to a Balanced National Policy
(04/2008): Highlights recent rental housing supply shortages brought on by the impact of foreclosures on rental properties, and the lack of capital to build new rental housing.
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