New Bedford area housing issues play into a 'dream' for housing at UMass Dartmouth forum

DARTMOUTH — A newly created state agency charged with the Herculean task of addressing the state housing crisis has taken to the road to seek input.

The Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities was established in 2023 by Gov. Maura Healey to create more homes and lower housing costs to state residents.

Secretary Ed Augustus and agency officials are making 14 stops around the state to solicit feedback by folks in the front lines dealing with housing issues, which is, preeminently, a lack of housing.

Their third stop was UMass Dartmouth on Tuesday to discuss South Coast housing issues.

Augustus said the input will be used in developing a state housing plan, which is something that hasn't been done in 40 years.

Healey signed an executive order that the agency create a statewide housing plan every five years.

Augustus said they wanted to consider the different regional housing needs through these sessions.

The stakeholders with agencies providing housing — or attempting to provide housing — were asked after an opening introduction to participate in discussion groups.

They were asked their dream/vision for Massachusetts housing, what was working in their communities, what challenges they faced, and what strategies they would like to see explored.

Fair and affordable housing for all was a recurrent answer — it's just the way to accomplish that goal that can appear elusive.

Among the issues:

• The lack of housing stock.
• The lack of affordable housing stock.
• What is affordable housing - what is termed affordable is not affordable to many.
• The lack of a reliable safety net for people who suddenly lose their housing.
• The lack of help for medium income people. They make too much money to qualify for aid but too little for what's on the market.
• Permitting can be difficult and expensive, especially for smaller developers.

The South Coast numbers compiled by the agency are daunting.

• One out of seven households are "severely" cost burdened and spend more than half their income on rent and utilities.
• Those numbers are even higher in New Bedford - one in five, or 8,000 households.
• And it's worse for renters. One in four South Coast renter households are severely cost burdened.

The problem is exacerbated by historically low vacancy rates. Across the South Coast region, only 1.3% of homes are available for sale or rent.

Eric Shupin, Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities policy chief, promoted the $4.1 billion Affordable Homes Act filed by Healey. It would be the largest such investment in the state's history, he said.

The plan will fund or enable the creation of more than 40,000 homes that otherwise would not be built, including 22,000 new homes for low-income households and 12,000 new homes for middle-income households, according to the governor's office.

It also includes 28 policy proposals that can help address some of the challenges discussed, Shupin said.

The agency's next stop will be in Brockton Friday. It will wrap up the 14-stop series in June on Martha's Vineyard.

This article originally appeared on Standard-Times: New Bedford area housing issues play into a 'dream' for housing at UMass Dartmouth forum