Warren: Feds need to step up as housing woes worsen

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren threw her weight behind Gov. Maura Healey’s housing plan on Monday morning, and said the federal government will need to step up to help the state address its housing affordability and availability crisis.

As many as 200,000 housing units will need to be built in Massachusetts over the next six years to keep up with housing demand, Warren said at an event hosted by the New England Council at the UMass Club in Boston on Monday.

“The problem is bad and the problem is getting worse,” she said. “Do you think that housing is in short supply in Massachusetts right now? Do you think that rents are already rising like a hot air balloon? Well buckle up for a rough ride.”

Warren praised Healey’s five-year, $4.12 billion housing bond bill, a plan that has idled before the Legislature since Healey filed it in October.

The bill seeks to kickstart housing production, upgrade the state’s aging and neglected public housing stock, and convert state land into housing-ready plots. It is also packed with policy proposals, including the ability for cities and towns to impose new fees on high-price real estate transactions and steer the revenue into affordable housing development, a simple majority voting threshold for inclusionary zoning ordinances and bylaws at the local level, and a new designation to address housing availability in “seasonal communities.”

“Each of these will help reduce the affordable housing gap. Our governor knows that one-size-fits-all is not going to solve this crisis,” Warren said.

But, she added, Massachusetts can’t tackle the problem alone.

“Here’s my pitch today: Massachusetts and the rest of the country should not be left to deal with this housing crisis alone. It is time for the federal government to step up. Not to tell local governments what to do, but to be a good partner.”

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