Policy & Opinion

MHP has authored and commissioned studies aimed at analyzing the current housing situation and presenting new solutions that address the need for affordable housing.

In 2005-2006, MHP focused on the issue of how the state's current zoning practices, land use and high home prices with three studies that looked at land consumption and the impact of “smarter” zoning policies might have on land supply and housing prices.

Smart and Affordable (June 2006)

MHP punctuates its year-long look at how housing is being produced in Massachusetts by commissioning land use consultant Phil Herr to analyze the common conditions under which communities have build affordable housing in smart locations.

Large-lot housing construction in Boston area (January, 2006)

An analysis of recent building data by MHP and MIT Center for Real Estate shows that new single-family home construction in the greater Boston metropolitan area is consuming about twice as much land as existing single-family housing, and half of the region's 30,387 recent new single-family homes were built on lots of nearly an acre or larger.

What's the Payoff from Smart Growth? (September, 2005)

Gloucester-based economist Edward Moscovitch, who served as the state's budget director for Gov. Francis Sargent, quantifies how Massachusetts could drive down prices and stop eating up land in football-field sized chunks if it adopted smart growth production policies.

For more content created or commissioned by MHP, go to Resources and Links.