Impact of Affordable Housing
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is currently in a housing crisis requiring statewide development, according to Massachusetts Secretary of Housing and Livable Communities Ed Augustus. 鈥淓very community has a responsibility to create some amount of housing,鈥� Augustus said.聽
Prior to his appointment as secretary in 2023, Augustus served as city manager of Worcester, Mass., and director of Government and Community Relations at the College of the Holy Cross. Augustus said that, like many cities across the United States, Worcester saw its population slowly decrease after manufacturing jobs moved out. But today, the city is rebounding. 鈥淸Worcester is] now the fastest growing city in New England,鈥� Augustus said. 鈥淚 would like to think that鈥檚 partly because of some of the things we did when I was city manager.鈥澛燗ugustus said he helped revitalize the area with a simple philosophy: a healthy city requires residents capable of living comfortably without great expense. By creating affordable housing around Worcester, the city avoided a disastrous housing crisis and attracted more residents, Augustus said.
A staple to the housing crisis is the issue of zoning, Augustus said鈥攖he government鈥檚 method of allocating property and deciding how it can be used. These laws can negatively impact the housing supply and decrease affordability. In Massachusetts, the parameters for and strictness against new developments fluctuate between the zoning laws of each city and town. 鈥淧art of the housing crisis that we鈥檙e facing here in Massachusetts is because of these local barriers to housing production,鈥� Augustus said. Beyond that, many people, including postgraduates, are unable to live in Massachusetts due to the high housing costs, according to him. 鈥淲e are competing for talent with the entire globe, and we need to make sure that folks fall in love with Massachusetts,鈥� Augustus said. 鈥淢aybe they鈥檝e come to one of our great colleges and universities here. They want to stay here, but they鈥檙e not able to afford to stay here, and we鈥檙e losing that talent.鈥�
Although the state is efficient at providing resources for higher education and job opportunities, the lack of affordable housing pushes students and workers away from settling in the Commonwealth, Augustus noted. 鈥淲e have a 1.6 percent vacancy rate in Massachusetts, so that is the lowest vacancy rate of the 50 states,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hat means if you鈥檙e trying to find the requirements, maybe you鈥檙e a single mom with a couple of kids, and you need to be close to where you work, or close to public transportation to get to work, there are often not a lot of options, and what is available could be out of your price range.鈥�
In a final effort for a call to action, Augustus asked the audience to consider how the affordable housing crisis might impact them in the near future. 鈥淎t some point in time, you鈥檒l be looking to live off campus, and you鈥檒l see what the cost of housing is in the Greater Boston area,鈥� Augustus said. 鈥淚t is a real challenge for many families.鈥�
Adapted from聽聽article聽by聽Elona Michael '28 and聽Nic Petrosino '27.
Presented with the Corcoran Center for Real Estate and Urban Action