Commonwealth Housing Task Force Quarterly Summary of Progress as of December, 2012 Note: in order to reduce the size of these reports, we have condensed the description of regular ongoing activities, and have moved much of the Chapter 40R update to Appendix I of this report. For background, please visit www.tbf.org/chtf or www.commonwealthhousingtaskforce.org and click on “Quarterly Updates”. A key to the Appendices and the Appendices themselves follow at the end of this quarter’s report. During the very active fourth Quarter of 2012, the Commonwealth Housing Task Force focused its efforts on: 1. The implementation and monitoring of Chapter 40R, including advocacy for pending legislation and funding. 2. The call for an increase in state funding for affordability, and monitoring of both state and federal legislation and programmatic developments. 3. Strategic planning for new initiatives of the Task Force, including assuring that the benefits of new construction under 40R and other state programs are available to the widest range of households, work with the committee to focus on public housing, and work with the State Administration to maintain a focus on housing programs. 4. An expansion in participation in the Task Force itself, with a focus on diversity. 5. Working in close partnership and collaboration with other groups to support our missions. Barry Bluestone, Eleanor White, and Ted Carman, working through the Dukakis Center for Urban and Regional Policy at Northeastern University, have carried out the staff work in coordination with active subcommittees and Boston Foundation staff. Greater Boston Housing Report Card Forum and CHTF Plenary Session During this quarter, the Dukakis Center for Urban and Regional Policy at Northeastern University completed its Greater Boston Housing Report Card 2012, the 10th annual report in this series. On November 14, 2012, the Greater Boston Housing Report Card 2012, described in some detail below, was released at The Boston Foundation. The cover letter to the report from Paul Grogan, President of the Boston Foundation, set the tone; see the letter in Appendix II of this report. At the forum, Barry Bluestone presented the main conclusions of the Report Card, along with recommendations for action. A panel of housing experts responded to the report. The panel included: Karl E. Case, Director Emeritus, Wellesley College and Senior Fellow, Joint Center for Housing Studies, Harvard University Elyse Cherry, CEO, Boston Community Capital Brenda Clement, Executive Director, Citizen’s Housing and Planning Association (CHAPA) Commonwealth Housing Task Force Quarterly Report June 30, 2012 Page 2 Alicia Sasser, Senior Economist, New England Public Policy Center, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston Marie Wentling, Director of Product Strategy, TheWarren Group Following the presentation of the report, a plenary session of the Commonwealth Housing Task Force (CHTF) was convened and action steps to implement the report’s recommendations were outlined. Given the report’s conclusion of the need for a substantial increase in housing production, CHTF will be pursuing a comprehensive plan for legislative action. As in past years, the Greater Boston Housing Report Card (GBHRC 2012) provided detailed information on home sales, housing production, changes in single- family home and condo prices, apartment rents, and government spending on affordable housing. The report also included a detailed assessment of housing production under Chapter 40R. But unlike past reports in this series, the GBHRC 2012 not only looked backward but also looked forward, projecting housing demand in Greater Boston out to 2020 under two scenarios: a “current trends” scenario and a “stronger growth” scenario. Under the former, annual production of housing units in Greater Boston will have to double over the average production rate for the past five years; under the stronger growth scenario--which assumes that the region will retain and attract somewhat more young households--annual production levels will have to triple through 2020. Moreover, given the twin demographic shifts of more aging baby boomers and an increase in the number of younger “millenials” (those born from the late 1970’s to early 2000’s), the demand for traditional single family suburban homes will diminish and the demand for multi-family condominium and rental units will rise. This calls for a fundamental shift in the nature of production as well as an increase in the number of units. Unlike past reports, the 2012 report also included a full chapter on recommendations for housing action. Among the recommendations are the following: The Commonwealth should be encouraged to use its excellent bond rating and current record low interest rates to purchase vacant mill buildings and land bank them so that developers can construct more affordable condo and rental units in these communities. The number of Chapter 40R communities needs to be increased substantially, reducing the constraint on developers to build denser, more affordable housing in transit-rich communities. This will require a redoubling of efforts to convince municipalities of the need for such housing and to make it easier for communities to apply for Chapter 40R status. Colleges and universities in the region must be encouraged to increase residence hall construction for undergraduate and graduate students in order to take pressure off the local rental market. Commonwealth Housing Task Force Quarterly Report June 30, 2012 Page 3 Universities must be encouraged to work with private developers to construct multi-university graduate student villages where the continually growing number of graduate students can find rental units that meet their needs while they are in school and perhaps for the first few years after graduation. To reduce the cost of developing new housing and therefore make new housing more affordable, the Commonwealth should be encouraged to create a Blue Ribbon Commission to study the structure of development costs in order to determine where and how the cost of actual construction, assembling financing, and/or the legal requirements associated with development can be reduced. Response to the release of the GBHRC 2012 has been extremely positive. An article and editorial in Banker and Tradesman can be found in Appendix II of this report. Housing Market Updates Coverage this Quarter about news in the housing market, continuing the trend we reported on last Quarter, was optimistic about Massachusetts and New England. On October 17, Banker and Tradesman reported on the MA Association of Realtors’ positive assessment of the home market; and on the same day The Washington Post spoke of “blockbuster housing numbers” nationally. On November 8, Banker and Tradesman predicted a slow but steady recovery in the housing market and on November 27 reported on very strong home sales numbers. We have in recent Quarterly Reports covered the huge jump in rents in multifamily rental housing in Massachusetts, particularly in the Greater Boston area, and that trend continues unabated. All of the articles mentioned above are included in Appendix II to this Report. Student Housing Effort Barry Bluestone continues to pursue efforts to deal with the issues in the housing market presented by Boston’s being such a center of higher education. We house more than 100,000 full-time 4-year college students on campus in the Boston area, but nearly 180,000 live off campus, putting huge pressure on an already-overheated rental housing market. Further, whereas 50 percent of undergraduates live on campus, only 8 percent of graduate students do. Barry has developed an innovative model of seeking to develop graduate student villages (described in several past CHTF Quarterly Reports). Accordingly, we were very pleased to note that Governor Patrick has announced major funding for state college building efforts. See the Boston.com article in Appendix III of this report. Other promising developments include the news that Wentworth Institute of Technology will be building a new dormitory (see Appendix III), and—as reported in MassDevelopment Solutions Newsletter of Fall, 2012—that Commonwealth Housing Task Force Quarterly Report June 30, 2012 Page 4 MassDevelopment has provided financing for construction of student housing at Merrimack College in North Andover, Endicott College in Beverly, Lesley University in Cambridge, Northeastern University in Boston, and the College of Our Lady of the Elms in Chicopee. All of these developments will help take the pressure off the rental housing market in their communities. Barry Bluestone continues to meet regularly with interested parties to explore where and how a multi-university graduate student village can be built. During this quarter, the Dukakis Center worked with Samuels & Associates (Trilogy) on encouraging the development of a large graduate student housing complex in the Fenway area. This work included: Holding 3 graduate student focus groups to assess the type of housing needed and at which various price points, Working with the developer to re-imagine micro units with 1 and 3-bedroom configurations, Helping to prepare a housing proposal for submission to Northeastern University for a master lease. We are hopeful that this idea can be implemented in the near future. Other Programmatic Developments Probably the most exciting programmatic development during this Quarter was Governor Patrick’s announcement of an Administration goal of producing 10,000 housing units per year in Massachusetts.