Legislature should follow Gov. Baker proposals to cut red tape to allow for more affordable housing

If you’re one of the many Massachusetts residents scrambling to buy your first house or condo, the state’s latest residential real estate price and inventory figures continue a discouraging trend.

The median home price in Massachusetts has hit a new threshold — $400,000. In Suffolk County, it’s $570,500, according to a report last week from the Warren Group, which tracks that activity. The year-to-date median sale price statewide rose 3.2%, compared to the same nine-month period in 2018. And even though the number of sales dropped this year in 10 of the state’s 13 counties, prices are still up across the board, according to the report.

A family would need to earn about $160,000 per year to qualify for the median home in Suffolk County, according to data from the National Housing Conference — well over the $90,650 household income of the average two-person household in the Boston area.

Now, some economists would say this data indicates evidence of a strong economy, implied by individuals’ continued willingness to pay increasingly higher prices.

However, at statistically full employment, this state’s economy can’t afford to lose skilled workers. But soaring home prices will lead to that exodus unless government and private industry find a way to produce more market-rate and affordable housing.

The commonwealth’s pricey real estate discourages workers from relocating to Massachusetts and forces those already here to seek less expensive areas to live and work.

That’s backed up by The Boston Foundation, which found that in 2017, Boston alone accounted for 41% of the state’s new housing permits.

That obviously means the rest of the state, especially the suburbs, isn’t doing enough to provide affordable housing in its communities.

This keeps the number of available housing units low and prices high for both first-time home buyers and empty-nesters seeking to downsize.

Some lawmakers and Gov. Charlie Baker recognize the need for more affordable-housing stock, as do many of the state’s business leaders.

The state needs at least 135,000 new housing units to quell the region’s housing shortage, experts say. But so far the Legislature has failed to act on a series of bills by Baker that would cut the red tape and make it easier for developers to build the kind of high-density, multifamily housing that would help drive costs down.

The governor’s legislation would allow municipal governments to change their zoning rules with a simple majority vote, rather than the existing two-thirds requirement.

The problem continues to be the reluctance of both the Legislature and developers to change the status quo.

Enough lawmakers obviously have felt sufficient pressure from the wealthy communities they represent to stall Baker’s housing bids.

And while builders remain eager to undertake developments in pricey areas like Boston’s Seaport District, they’re reluctant to wade into the weeds that come with the red tape of building affordable housing in communities fighting it at every turn.

Federal, state and local government must find a way to create housing where it’s needed the most.

That must be replicated, not only in Gateway Cities across the state — including Lowell and Fitchburg –– but also in the NIMBY suburbs in order for the benefits of the state’s robust economy to be shared equitably.