Voting yes on Question 7 this November would require cities and towns to allow starter homes — single-family homes on residential lots that meet baseline standards: at least 5,000 square feet in area, 50 feet of public frontage, and access to municipal water and sewer.
The mounting lack of affordable housing is no longer just a residential concern; it is an economic disincentive actively threatening the state’s future workforce. Between July 2024 and July 2025, Massachusetts suffered a net loss of 33,000 residents, with a striking 44% of those individuals under the age of 35.
This crisis is felt acutely in Worcester, New England’s second-largest city. According to Census data highlighted by the city, Worcester added 25,000 residents between 2010 and 2020 while producing only 10,000 new housing units. As Worcester continues to cement its status as a hub for healthcare, life sciences, manufacturing, and higher education, local employers are increasingly struggling to recruit and retain the nurses, researchers, educators, and young professionals needed to power the regional economy.
Local polling commissioned by the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce confirms that housing costs have reached a tipping point among community members and the workforce alike. The resident survey reveals that an overwhelming 89% of Worcester residents view local housing prices as unaffordable, while 82% agree that the city must prioritize building more housing. Furthermore, 74% of respondents explicitly favor constructing more multifamily housing to meet demand. These findings demonstrate that public sentiment aligns directly with the business community’s goals: expanded housing production is widely recognized not as a disruption, but as an urgent civic necessity to protect economic vitality and stem outmigration.
The WRCC’s endorsement of voting yes on Question 7 directly reinforces the city’s own municipal policy blueprints, most notably the Worcester Now | Next Citywide Plan and the city’s Housing Production Plan. Now | Next, Worcester’s first comprehensive master plan in nearly 40 years, explicitly calls for “gentle, incremental density,” smart-growth corridors, and the dismantling of outdated zoning barriers that restrict supply. By advocating for smaller minimum lot sizes, by-right accessory dwelling units (ADUs), and reduced parking minimums on parcels serviced by public water and sewer, Now | Next seeks to incentivize infill development and starter-home creation. This ballot measure operationalizes those exact municipal goals at a statewide scale.
To keep pace with regional growth and remain economically competitive, the Healey-Driscoll administration estimates Massachusetts must construct 222,000 new homes by 2035, a goal that demands bold policy changes. By unlocking an estimated 5,700 homes each year statewide, Question 7 would deliver a nearly 50% surge in permitting while putting people in our building trades to work.
Recognizing this economic imperative, major regional business standard-bearers, such as the WRCC, the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, the Greater Boston Real Estate Board, and the Home Builders & Remodelers Association of Massachusetts, have already endorsed the measure. Voting yes on Question 7 advances a market-based solution that unlocks private investment without taxpayer subsidies, protects our local tax base, and ensures the Commonwealth’s emerging workforce can afford to build their futures in Central Massachusetts.
Timothy Murray is president and CEO of the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce.
