Author: Chanie

Housing Opportunities Unlimited Chief Operating Officer, Susan Connelly, joined Nixon Peabody LLP’s Housing Huddle and was interviewed by Strategic Policy Advisor/Deputy Practice Group Leader Deborah VanAmerongen about the Uniform Relocation Act (URA), and she also shared some insights on the recent URA changes.

Upzoning and reduced regulation are not magic bullets. Indeed, almost 20 years of data from across the country consistently shows that zoning reforms alone end up producing only a fraction of the new housing the country needs.  Restrictive zoning is correctly understood to cause higher housing costs and less construction.  But the opposite turns out not to be true; reduced regulation cannot on its own create enough housing to lower costs.

There is an almost invisible web of agencies regulating bits and pieces of the housing ecosystem. Their rulemaking is typically done with neither the authority nor the requirement to consider whether their policies promote, or hinder, available and affordable housing.

Decisions being made now will have a legacy beyond our lifetimes. They will affect the economy, jobs, and taxes. They should reflect who we aspire to be, yet they are being made in a continuing, historic context of exclusionary housing policies and zoning. And they are often made by people whose life experience has been very different than the people on those long [affordable housing] waiting lists.

Discussions about community character are caught between history, who we are now, and the future. Communities that cannot accept change and who won’t meet an unknowable future head on will struggle and stagnate, as the not-too-distant past demonstrates. Attempts to freeze time created this mess in the first place. Exclusionary zoning helped create this housing environment where children can’t find a place to live where they grew up while teachers, police and firemen can’t afford the towns they serve.

Our policies are designed for who we used to be rather than who we are and who we are becoming.  Accepting who we really are, how we live and work, and the trends shaping the Commonwealth’s future is a prerequisite to sustaining our economy.

Everyone agrees we have a housing problem. There isn’t enough, it costs too much, and limited supply is hurting the recruiting and retention of the talent that drives our economy.  Housing problems impact almost every community in the Commonwealth, every household type, and every socio-economic class.

Uprooting and relocating residents can be challenging and stressful if you don’t have the right people in charge to coordinate everything. Boston-based Housing Opportunities Unlimited, which celebrated its 40th anniversary in November, specializes in providing relocation services.