270 Centre housing unit designed by Studio G Architects. Photo: Greg Premru

The Metropolitan Area Planning Council recently released a report on housing in our city. In order to maintain a competitive housing market, MAPC’s data indicates that Greater Boston requires 435,000 new homes over the next 20-30 years. Ranking highest on the list of necessary dwellings are multi-family units (condominiums, apartments, townhomes), spanning both urban suburban neighborhoods.

In an article for the Boston Globe, columnist Paul McMurrow provides a sharp summary of the MAPC’s report, and outlines the changes required to improve the broken status quo.

“Massachusetts needs to change the way it builds housing to meet changes in the way people live. Here’s why:

■ Demographics are driving housing needs.

■ Schools are no excuse.

■ The shift away from single-family homebuilding is permanent.

■ Standing still isn’t an option.

The status quo scenario brings Massachusetts an embarrassing 1 percent job growth rate; it leaves a large population of seniors depending on government services, without an influx of new taxpayers to fund them; and it still demands increased housing production, thanks to demographic shifts.

This isn’t a future anyone should want. And it isn’t one anyone should settle for. If the simple act of treading water demographically will require slow-growth towns to build more housing, they might as well put their shoulders into the effort, and wind up with a future worth celebrating.” –  Paul McMurrow

270 Centre Street affordable housing project by Studio G Architects. Photo: Greg Premru

To read the full article, please visit: http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2014/01/21/metropolitan-area-planning-council-report-offers-four-hard-truths-about-housing/kTkooV301fcAm2gVIeUXGL/story.html

To learn more about MAPC, please visit: http://www.mapc.org/smart-growth/housing