Complex Permitting Raises Housing Costs
Vacation Homes Add to Housing Crunch | All the Single Ladies
Pioneer Institute Examines How Complex Permitting Stifles Housing Production
The Pioneer Institute, a Boston think tank, examined the complexities of housing permitting in Massachusetts, highlighting issues that cause delays and raise costs.
The authors interviewed various stakeholders for a policy brief to understand the political and regulatory landscape. They identified problems from local control, lengthy hearing processes, and discretionary special permits.
The brief proposes 11 reforms targeting permitting processes, appeals, and local government practices. Key recommendations include streamlining site plan reviews, reducing red tape for special permits, and discouraging lawsuits used as negotiating tactics. The authors believe the ultimate goal should be to make the permitting process more efficient and predictable by limiting local discretion, thus fostering housing affordability and abundance.
The proposed changes suggest a desire to introduce more standardization, expertise, and oversight into the local permitting processes, thus limiting a municipality’s ability to reject housing projects a community may deem undesirable.
According to the brief, appeals significantly impact housing development costs by causing delays and creating opportunities for opponents to negotiate costly concessions from developers. The costs associated with appeals can be lower than the costs of delay, which gives opponents leverage to win concessions even with lawsuits of dubious merit.
Ultimately, the brief argues that the complex permitting process makes homes less affordable.
Many organizations, policy groups, and governmental panels have suggested how to boost housing. Most recommendations would require legislative approval, raising the question of whether legislators will have the political will to follow them. Residents in many towns have resisted the state’s requirements to zone for multi-unit housing.
Governor Maura Healey’s administration estimates that 222,000 new housing units are needed over the next 10 years to control housing costs and meet the state’s economic development goals.
The following is a two-minute video produced by the Pioneer Institute explaining the typical permitting process in Massachusetts.
Vacation Homes Add to Housing Crunch
The growing housing crunch in Massachusetts is exacerbated by the trend of vacation homes sitting vacant for much of the year, according to reporting by CommonWealth Beacon.
The trend is driven by the rise of short-term rentals and wealthy buyers not needing year-round tenants. The mismatch between available units and demand is contributing to the state’s housing shortage and having a negative impact on communities on Cape Cod and other areas around the state.
About 118,000 units, or 4 percent of the state’s housing stock, are being used for “seasonal, recreational, or occasional use.”
The article notes that is was a “fairly normal practice for people on the Cape to hand off their homes to summer renters to help pay for expenses the rest of the year. Even nine-month rentals, where people used a house as a summer home but rented it out during the off-season, were common … which ensured these small towns had a vibrancy and fairly steady population around the calendar year.”
Governor Healey's housing bond bill aims to help, including the creation of a Seasonal Communities Designation and a Seasonal Communities Advisory Council, which is tasked with providing advice and recommendations to the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities (EOHLC) regarding policies or programs necessary to serve the distinct needs of seasonal communities. The Advisory Council will consist of representatives from communities on the Cape, Islands and the Berkshires, exploring policies to incentivize year-round rentals and address the workforce and schooling crises in these communities.
All the Single Ladies
All the single ladies aren’t waiting for someone to put a ring on it before buying a home.
A recent LendingTree study reveals that single women in the United States, despite earning less money than men, own significantly more homes than single men.
Several factors contribute to this disparity, including women's willingness to sacrifice for homeownership, a greater need for housing stability due to caregiving responsibilities, and higher education levels, especially in states like Massachusetts.
Millennial women in some metropolitan areas out-earn their male counterparts, further bolstering their home-buying power.
Key Findings
Single women are more likely to own homes than single men in 47 states.
Nationally, single women own roughly 2.72 million more homes than single men.
In Massachusetts, single women own 232,554 homes compared 155,985 for single men.
New Mexico, Mississippi, and West Virginia had the largest share of homeownership by single women.
North Dakota, South Dakota, and Alaska had the largest share of homeownership by single men.
States with the widest gender gap in homeownership rates between single women and single men were Delaware, Connecticut, and Maryland. Massachusetts ranked 9th.
LendingTree analyzed “microdata from the U.S. Census Bureau 2023 American Community Survey” for its study.