Newton Commits To Increase Housing As Part Of Area Coalition

NEWTON, MA — Newton is among 15 Boston-area communities working to build even more new housing than proposed in a recent statewide bill.

The Metro Mayors Coalition said at a Tuesday press conference it plans to announce its "landmark" regional housing production goal of 185,000 new units by 2030. The coalition said the 15 cities and towns that make it up have added nearly 110,000 residents and 148,000 new jobs since 2010, but only permitted 32,500 new housing units.

In June 2015, Newton's Department of Planning and Development and Mayor Warren started to develop a City-wide Housing Strategy.

"The Newton Leads 2040 Housing Strategy [is] a blueprint to meet the City’s evolving housing needs," said then Mayor Setti Warren of the plan the city developed. Given the combination of lack land on which to build new homes and growing population the plan called for a combination of preservation and new construction.

The 2016 projection data for Newton indicated there will be more than 1,900 new households within the City by 2030.

Director of Planning and Development Barney Heath said it's difficult to estimate just how much new construction Newton will add to the regional total, as those are decided on a case by case basis by the City Council.

The 2010 census had Newton at 32,648 housing units. The anticipated total for 2030 for large multi-families with more than 50 units under construction this year include the Austin Street development with 68 and Washington Place with 140.

And the City Council is presently hearing the Northland Special Permit proposal for 860 units in Newton Highlands and the city anticipates Riverside to file for permission for about 663 units in December this year or January 2019.

Newton Mayor Ruthanne Fuller said she believed Newton needs housing that is affordable for people with low, moderate or fixed incomes and a variety of housing types attractive to millennials and seniors as well as young families with children and empty nesters.

“We need affordable housing for people to stay in Newton or to move here,” Fuller said in an emailed statement to Patch Thursday.

“The key to developing housing will be to plan it wisely — such as by building around Newton’s MBTA stops. Each project needs to work for Newton,” she said.

The announcement comes in the face of skyrocketing home prices and rents.

The median sale price in Massachusetts this year through August is $389,500, according to the Warren Group. The median condo sale price are up more than 10 percent to $375,000.

The current median price to buy a single family home this year in Newton through August was at $1.2 million according to MLS data. In 2015 it was at $1 million.

This year a two bedroom rental averages $2,362 a month, according to MLS data.

"Our region is in the midst of a housing emergency," Somerville Mayor Joseph Curtatone said in a statement.

"It is a crisis of housing affordability and availability that has deep and disastrous impacts on individuals and families. And it is not contained by municipal boundaries — it is a problem of such scale and scope that it demands cities, towns, and the state come together to develop bold regional solutions."

Gov. Charlie Baker in December 2017 offered a bill calling for 135,000 new units by 2025. It failed to advance in either branch of the Legislature.

"We are at a pivotal time in Greater Boston as our economy continues to grow and thrive, and more people move to our communities. As the region grows, we must ensure our cities and towns keep up with the demand for affordable housing, ensuring families can stay in the communities they love," said Boston Mayor Martin Walsh who increased Boston's housing goal last month from 53,000 to 69,000 new units of housing by 2030.

READ THIS>> Affordable Housing Goals Rise In Boston: Mayor Walsh

The Metropolitan Area Planning Council in Boston said Eastern Massachusetts will need an estimated 435,000 units of housing by 2040 to meet demand.

"Housing production isn't just a Boston problem and no one community can solve our housing crisis alone. Home prices are rising throughout the region, and even as demand has grown, production has lagged. Today, these local and state leaders are stepping up to tackle the housing crisis head-on, because our residents can't wait," said Marc Draisen, Executive Director of the Metropolitan Area Planning Council in Boston, which staffs and facilitates the Metro Mayors Coalition.

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Material from the State House News Service were used in this report

Photo by Jenna Fisher/Patch Staff