Watch 40B Panel Discussion at MIT/CRE's 3rd Annual Housing Affordability Conference, May 22, 2007 (69 min).
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Housing Affordability Initiative (HAI)
Housing matters. Housing is a cornerstone of any region, largely defining the quality of life for households and regional economic competitiveness. But housing is expensive. In the Boston region, as well as elsewhere in the world, moderate-income working households are increasingly finding adequate housing to be out of reach. Unfortunately, solving the affordability problem is difficult. It requires the engagement of a wide variety of groups – households, municipal governments, private-sector developers, the mortgage industry, policy-makers and public agencies. It demands a breadth of housing alternatives – across income groups, household sizes, housing tenures and locations. And it requires knowledge. Recognizing this complex problem, the MIT Center for Real Estate’s (MIT-CRE) Housing Affordability Initiative (HAI) catalyzes high-quality research and discussion around the modern housing affordability challenge.
Created in 2004, HAI is an outgrowth of the Center’s mission to improve the built environment and the need for policy-relevant research on housing affordability in the Boston metropolitan area. Providing new data sources, analysis, policy evaluation and tools, HAI relies on the expertise of MIT faculty, staff and graduate students, and other research partners.
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The HAI Mission
HAI promotes a body of scholarship for informed public discussion of regional housing issues and improved public and private decision-making.
HAI investigates and examines:
- The supply of housing and its attributes – proximity to jobs, school quality, and safety,
- Interactions between housing development, housing policy and land use regulation,
- Relationships between housing markets, communities, and both local and regional economic development.
HAI brings together and engages:
- The academic community at MIT and at other universities,
- Students of all disciplines committed to housing research and practice,
- Private developers, real estate investment trusts (REITs), mortgage industry participants and private equity funds,
- Housing policy, planning and government officials,
- Advocacy communities, as well as legal and environmental professionals.
HAI Staff Directory and Contact Information
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Latest Release
Many Chapter 40B Projects Aren’t Being Built: Center Releases Landmark Study on 40B & Litigation
June 18, 2007
The Housing Affordability Initiative today released the findings of its exhaustive investigation into the Chapter 40B permitting process. Results are surprising, and include evidence that even though a majority of Chapter 40B zoning override cases in the Boston area are approved by town zoning boards in a manner acceptable to developers, many projects are not being built. Read press release. See also research paper.
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Research Highlights
The HAI Affordable Housing Index
The Housing Affordability Index is a multipurpose, multi-faceted tool that is designed to be used by banks and other lenders, affordable housing developers, employers, and economic development agencies. At its core, the index measures a community’s affordable housing stock relative to other communities in an area for a specified segment of the population.
Boston Area Housing Approaches An Acre Per Home: Land Use Research Findings
January 31, 2006
New single-family home construction in the greater Boston metropolitan area is consuming about twice as much land as existing single-family housing, and half of the region’s 30,387 recent new single-family homes were built on lots of nearly an acre or larger, according to a new study by the Massachusetts Housing Partnership (MHP) and the MIT Center for Real Estate (MIT/CRE).
- Land Use Research Findings
- Press Release: "Boston Area Housing Approaches An Acre Per Home: Analysis shows widespread rise in land used for new housing,”
40B Report: Effects of Mixed-Income, Multi-Family Rental Housing Developments on Single-Family Housing Values
April 27, 2005
Chapter 40B is a Massachusetts statute that states: If less than ten percent of a municipality’s housing stock is defined as affordable, then developers with comprehensive permits can build developments that override local zoning regulations. The ability to circumvent zoning regulations has given rise to fears that the values of homes surrounding these mixed-income, multi-family developments will decline, and to resident opposition to 40B developments. The Housing Affordability Initiative (HAI) investigated whether these fears are actually justified by the facts, issued a 40B report, and held an event to present and discuss their findings.
Annual Housing Affordability Conferences
The Housing Affordability Initiative (HAI) holds a series of annual conferences to present its latest research findings and to discuss the Boston area's most pressing housing affordability issues. Learn more.
