BOSTON—More than 400 housing, business, and public-sector leaders convened Thursday at the Citizens’ Housing and Planning Association’s annual Housing Summit, an event that brought together top state officials—including Governor Maura Healey, Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll, and Housing and Livable Communities Secretary Ed Augustus—to accelerate strategies for meeting Massachusetts’s ambitious goal of producing 222,000 new homes by 2035.
Governor Healey highlighted recent legislative and policy advances, including passage of the Affordable Homes Act, statewide legalization of accessory dwelling units, creation of an Office of Fair Housing, and the announcement of the state’s first housing production target. “We have nearly 100,000 housing starts already underway,” Healey said, crediting CHAPA’s partnership and the cross-sector momentum behind the housing push.
The program opened with a panel led by Secretary Augustus, joined by Commissioner Adam Baacke, DCAMM Undersecretary for Environment Stephanie Cooper, Undersecretary of Labor Josh Cutler, and Chief Melissa Hoffer, focused on how state agencies can coordinate to reduce costs, streamline development, and expand production. Senator Julian Cyr and Representative Andy Vargas delivered remarks underscoring legislative priorities for the year ahead.
“As we look to what’s next for housing in Massachusetts, we are grateful to CHAPA and today’s summit for convening the best minds in housing policy to brainstorm new solutions and deliver impact,” Augustus said.
Panels explored a slate of strategies aimed at alleviating the state’s chronic housing shortage, including reuse of underutilized land through “Yes in God’s Backyard” (YIGBY) legislation, adoption of mass timber and other modern construction technologies, and the financing and workforce development required to support large-scale development.
The Summit also brought together an unusually broad range of regional and national experts. Participants included representatives from Nectar Community Investments, Reframe Systems, Way Finders, Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC), Massachusetts Housing Partnership (MHP), Devens Enterprise Commission, BLD Properties, Northern Middlesex Council of Governments (NMCOG), Community Economic Development Assistance Corporation (CEDAC), Boston Communities, Mass Cultural Council, The Lynch Foundation, DCAMM’s Office of Real Estate Management, Father Bill’s & MainSpring, ISC Massachusetts, Boston Housing Authority, Beacon Communities, Allston Brighton Community Development Corporation, Massachusetts Community Climate Bank, Causeway Development, National Housing Crisis Task Force, CREA, State Street, MassHousing, Massachusetts Housing Investment Corporation (MHIC), ICON Architecture, the City of Boston, Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, Preservation of Affordable Housing (POAH), Stantec, National Development, Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP), Harvard Graduate School of Design, Capstone Communities, WoodWorks – Wood Products Council, Monte French Design Studio, Code Red Consultants, Leggat McCall Properties LLC, NEI General Contracting, MassINC Policy Center, Just A Start, and the Massachusetts AFL-CIO.
CHAPA said it will translate insights from the summit into actionable policy and program recommendations aimed at stabilizing housing for thousands of Massachusetts residents.
