Massachusetts is grappling with a housing crisis that has been decades in the making, and the South Shore is feeling the impact. The Commonwealth’s urban communities and their surrounding suburbs must significantly increase housing production to meet growing demand and foster mixed-income neighborhoods. This isn't just about putting roofs over heads; it's about the fundamental health and future vitality of Southeastern Massachusetts, impacting our workforce, economy, and community character.
The Alarming Scale of the Crisis
The South Shore has transformed into one of Massachusetts' hottest housing markets, with median home prices in many communities skyrocketing from around $416,000 in March 2020 to over $700,000 by 2025. In Hingham, median prices hit $1.51 million. The rental market has tightened dramatically, reaching a statewide vacancy rate of just 2.5%. On average statewide, half of Gateway City renters are cost-burdened, spending over 30% of their income on rent, with one-quarter spending more than 50%. Many households need to earn significantly more to afford current asking rents.
This extreme competition and soaring costs are causing a severe inventory crisis. Massachusetts lost nearly 24,000 prime working-age adults to other states in 2022, often due to housing costs. Employers struggle to find workers, hindering economic growth. Our housing stock is aging, with 80% of buildings that will exist in 2050 already built, requiring significant upgrades for energy efficiency and accessibility.
To stabilize prices and balance supply and demand, Massachusetts needs to produce an additional 222,000 homes over the next ten years. This includes homes of all types and affordability levels, not just luxury units. The South Shore alone needs an estimated 44,000 new homes by 2030 to remain economically competitive.
What's Working: Collaborative Solutions Taking Root
Facing these challenges, both state and local initiatives are providing promising blueprints for progress:
• The Affordable Homes Act (AHA): Signed into law in August 2024, this historic legislation authorizes $5.16 billion in spending over five years and nearly 50 policy initiatives. It includes significant funding for the Affordable Housing Trust Fund, the HousingWorks Infrastructure Program, and a new Momentum Fund to accelerate mixed-income multifamily housing development. The AHA also allocates $2 billion for public housing repair and modernization, and $426 million for local housing initiatives and the Housing Choice Grant Program.
• Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs): A key provision of the AHA allows ADUs (often called granny flats or in-law apartments) by-right in all single-family residential zoning districts across Massachusetts. This aims to remove local barriers like special permit requirements and limiting parking mandates, making it easier for homeowners to create smaller, more affordable living spaces. The Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) and the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities (EOHLC) are providing resources and model zoning to support communities in implementing these changes. Salem, for example, offers a property tax exemption to owners who rent their ADU at an affordable rate.
• MBTA Communities Act (Section 3A): This landmark law requires 177 communities served by the MBTA to zone for multifamily housing by-right near transit. As of January 2025, 117 municipalities have adopted compliant zoning, creating opportunities for thousands of new homes. The Supreme Judicial Court upheld the law's constitutionality and the Attorney General's enforcement power in January 2025, solidifying its mandate. This initiative encourages smart growth and transit-oriented development, reducing reliance on cars and promoting sustainable communities.
• Regional Collaboration and Support: The South Shore HOME Consortium, led by Quincy and including Weymouth, Braintree, Holbrook, and Milton, demonstrates how regional cooperation can help smaller communities access federal funding and technical expertise. Through this partnership, Weymouth offers a First-Time Homebuyer Program with down payment assistance and a Home Rehabilitation Loan Program, preserving existing affordable housing. The South Shore Housing Development Corporation also manages over 400 affordable units across Plymouth and Bristol counties.
• Addressing Homelessness: Quincy's Yawkey Housing Resource Center and Brockton's new facility are pioneering a comprehensive approach to homelessness. These centers integrate emergency housing, day services, permanent supportive housing, and co-located medical and mental health care, offering models for replication nationwide.
• Housing Production Plans (HPPs): Many communities, including Avon, Bridgewater, Brockton, Easton, Halifax, Plymouth, Plympton, and Stoughton, are proactively developing HPPs to assess needs, set affordable housing goals, and outline implementation strategies, which can help manage Chapter 40B applications.
• Municipal Affordable Housing Trusts (MAHTs): Enabled by state law, many cities and towns have established MAHTs to manage Community Preservation Act funds and other sources, providing assistance for homebuyers, rental assistance, home preservation, and predevelopment financing for new affordable units.
What Isn't Working: Persistent Roadblocks
Despite these efforts, significant roadblocks impede progress:
• NIMBYism and Local Resistance: "Not In My Back Yard" (NIMBY) opposition remains a powerful force, often mobilized against multifamily or affordable housing projects. Arguments about traffic, strained public services, or preserving "neighborhood character" are common, though sometimes driven by desires to protect property values. Braintree's "Monster Project" at South Shore Plaza was initially blocked by fierce opposition before a later unanimous approval of a smaller 325-unit development.
• Challenges with MBTA Communities Act Compliance: While many comply, some South Shore communities, like Hanover and Marshfield, were declared non-compliant by March 2025, leading to a loss of access to state grants. Other towns, like Middleborough, have challenged the law, arguing it doesn't adequately account for existing multifamily housing or the significant infrastructure costs required for new development. Plymouth and Duxbury used a strategy of "paper compliance," rezoning already developed areas to meet the law's theoretical capacity without necessarily facilitating new housing production, undermining the spirit of the legislation.
• Financial Feasibility Gaps: High construction and operating costs make it economically challenging to build new rental units without public subsidy. Even in Gateway Cities near Boston like Lynn, Peabody, and Malden, apartments cost about $80,000 more to produce and operate than rents can offset. This gap is even larger in Western Massachusetts. The financing for homeowners interested in building ADUs can also be a significant barrier.
• Bureaucratic Inefficiencies: The state's centralized public housing waitlist, implemented in 2019, is plagued by issues. Despite over 180,000 families on waitlists, thousands of state-funded public housing units sit vacant due to a lack of pre-screening applicants, unrealistic applications, and administrative delays in repairs and renovations. For example, in Fall River, some units have been vacant for years due to state sign-off delays.
• Infrastructure Limitations: Concerns over the capacity of water, wastewater, and transportation infrastructure often arise when new housing is proposed. While programs like the Affordable Homes Act, OneStop, and the MBTA Communities Catalyst Fund include funding for infrastructure projects to encourage housing development, addressing these needs comprehensively requires significant local and state coordination.
• Loss of Naturally Occurring Affordable Housing: Many older market-rate homes that previously offered affordable rents are dwindling, especially in Gateway Cities near Boston, as they are acquired and renovated by investors who then rent or sell at higher prices. The conversion of year-round homes to seasonal use or short-term rentals also depletes the available supply for permanent residents, particularly in coastal areas.
• Fair Housing Challenges: Systemic issues, including a lack of knowledge about fair housing rights and responsibilities among both the public and private sectors, persist. Discriminatory practices in financing, sales, and rentals still occur, and municipalities often lack dedicated entities for overseeing fair housing compliance or standardized systems for tracking complaints.
A Call to Action for the South Shore
The path forward requires bold, collaborative action from state and local governments, businesses, developers, nonprofits, and residents. Leaders must prioritize capacity building in local government and non-profits to effectively utilize available tools and execute housing plans.
The South Shore needs to embrace diverse housing options, from ADUs to mixed-income developments near transit, to accommodate our aging population, attract young professionals, and ensure that those who work here can afford to live here. Ignoring the crisis is not a neutral choice; it's a decision that risks economic stagnation, deepens inequality, and pushes future generations out of our communities.
Policymakers on the South Shore have an opportunity to lean into this challenge, leverage state resources, and implement creative local solutions that will build a stronger, more equitable, and vibrant future for all.
Sources include: Mass.gov, MassINC, OCPC, MAPC, EOHLC, MassHousing, WCVB, Boston Globe, MLSPIN, City of Brockton, South Shore Chamber of Commerce
