State plan says Central Mass. needs 7.5-10% growth in housing over next decade to meet demand

A map of Massachusetts showing housing units needed

Image | Courtesy of State House News Service Central Massachusetts will need a significant amount of housing growth over the next decade to meet demand.

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By Sam Drysdale | State House News Service

The astronomical cost of housing for Massachusetts households across the income spectrum and a bleak outlook for the new units needed over the next decade underscore the focus of the Healey administration's new housing plan for the next five years -- more production.

"The number of households paying more than 30% of their income has been rising across all income groups. More than one quarter of middle-income households are cost burdened, and more than three quarters of very low-income households," the administration's 2025-2029 housing plan says.

The administration has long pointed to a goal of increasing the statewide supply of year-round housing by 222,000 units over the next decade -- a 7% increase in the state housing supply.

The plan released Thursday calls this goal the "minimum number of additional homes needed to ensure that an absolute shortage of housing is not the main cause of high costs."

It adds that every region of the state will need to add homes to meet this target, though some will need to add more than others. It targets the metro Boston area, northern Middlesex, central Massachusetts, Nantucket and the South Shore as areas that require a 7.5 to 10% increase in their housing to keep up with demand.

Berkshire County, Franklin County and Cape Cod were identified as having significantly less need -- requiring less than 2.5% growth. An Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities official said at a briefing on Thursday that this is not because they don't require housing solutions, but because they have different needs.

On the Cape, for example, the issue is less that there isn't enough housing units, but that units are converted into luxury seasonal housing for non-year-round residents. Housing policies in those areas should be focused on targeting their specific needs, they said.