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.