Healey’s housing secretary tells business leaders to keep pushing for more housing
Juana Matias had but one ask when she addressed the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce this week: Keep pushing politicians, at the local and state levels, to implement more pro-housing policies.
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Matias, Governor Maura Healey’s new housing secretary, must have known she was preaching to the proverbial choir. But she wanted to reinforce that business groups’ advocacy makes a difference.
“When the business community shows up and speaks with one voice about the importance of housing, people listen,” Matias told the chamber crowd on Wednesday. “The next generation should not have to leave Massachusetts to find opportunity.”
The secretary’s remarks were followed by a panel discussion about pro-housing policies already in place or under consideration. Panelists included Doug Howgate, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation; Jenny Schuetz, vice president at Arnold Ventures, and Tamara Small, chief executive of NAIOP Massachusetts.
Small said she was encouraged by an all-hands-on-deck approach that policymakers are taking toward housing. She cited at least two examples: State lawmakers tucked significant zoning changes into the main state budget, and also approved a supplemental budget that includes a sales tax exemption for construction materials for multi-family housing.
“The little tweaks we’re starting to see will have a major impact down the road,” Small said.
She later noted the need for infrastructure improvements such as building new commuter rail extensions and opening up the Boston region’s water and sewer system to more communities. Schuetz suggested legalizing townhouses on reasonably small lots, while Howgate argued for linking state school construction aid to a community’s willingness to allow for more housing.
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After the meeting was over, chamber chief executive Jim Rooney vowed to follow up with Matias. Housing is one of the most pressing issues on the chamber’s public policy agenda this year.
“We really need to match the urgency of the solutions to the crisis,” Rooney said. “That means being even bolder than we have been. … In terms of the level of concern about this issue [among chamber members], it’s going up and up and up.”
As if on cue, the next day at the State House, Senate leaders unveiled their version of the latest economic development bill. Top of mind at the senators’ press conference: housing construction. For example, the senators proposed allowing duplexes to be built in any single-family zone.
Senator Barry Finegold, who co-chairs the Legislature’s economic development committee, said building more housing is the number one request he hears when he talks to chief executives about what lawmakers should prioritize.
“To do as much housing as we are,” Finegold added, “it’s because want to make sure that we have affordable housing for the future workforce.”
This is an installment of our weekly Bold Types column about the movers and shakers on Boston’s business scene.
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