Economic Opportunity

This edition of The House Call dives into the 2024 results from the U.S. Census Bureau's Building Permit Survey, including that Massachusetts permitted fewer new homes than it did in each year from 2013-2022. The newsletter also explains why the state's efforts to increase production of small, owner-occupied "starter homes" have thus far resulted in no new starter homes under official programs.

A new Pioneer Institute study finds that while rent control can lower rental housing costs and help vulnerable tenants remain in their homes, it also carries steep long-term consequences—including reduced housing quality, lower property values, fewer new housing units, and higher rents for non-controlled apartments. 

While nearly every state has expanded private sector employment since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Massachusetts is an outlier in experiencing a net decline in private sector job growth, posing significant risks to the state’s economic health and long-term prosperity, according to a new policy brief published by Pioneer Institute. 

The April edition of The House Call provides an update regarding the MBTA Communities Act's implementation, with some communities amending their zoning via either referendum votes or Town Meeting this spring. The newsletter also includes a discussion of communities that have eliminated minimum parking requirements in recent years.

This week's edition of Mapping Mass Migration features an analysis of newly released data from the Census Bureau, its March supplement of the Current Population Survey. Our analysis covers how migration trends have played out nationally since 1948, including the demographics of movers, the extent of their migration (within a county, across counties, to another state, etc.), and the most common reasons movers cite for changing their primary residence. The newsletter concludes with a brief discussion of what might account for a decline in overall migration rates nationally and where Massachusetts fits in.

Global competitors seizing opportunities to attract top talent

The March edition of The House Call covers recent zoning changes in Cambridge that allow 4 to 6-story buildings on every residential lot. It also summarizes reform recommendations from a state commission tasked with advising the Healey administration on how to ramp up housing production.

Policies often force developers to raise market-rate prices to compensate for losses on affordable units

Highlights Bureaucratic licensing process and appeals as areas to fix

BOSTON – State leaders cheered in January when the U.S. Census Bureau estimated that Massachusetts’ population grew by 69,000 in 2024, more than at any other time in 60 years. Unfortunately, a closer look reveals that the higher estimates are largely driven by a change in Census Bureau methodology designed to better capture the influx of humanitarian migrants.