Mayor: Boston on Target With 2030 New Housing Goals

Boston Mayor Martin Walsh

BOSTON—In his latest quarterly housing report, Boston Mayor Martin Walsh says the city is on target for meeting his lofty 53,000 units of new housing goal by the year 2030. In fact, according to the report, the city, with 565 new units permitted in the quarter, combined with the 17,183 units permitted or completed since the launch of the Boston 2030 initiative in 2014, new housing permits are running 124% of the 53,000-units target. In the first quarter, the Boston Redevelopment Authority approved more than 3,000 new housing units valued at $1.4 billion in investment. “Our population is growing faster today than at any time in our city’s history, and I’m committed to making sure that Boston stays affordable by meeting the demand of our growing city,” says Mayor Walsh. “By working across multiple agencies, this administration is working everyday to bring new units on line at a variety of income levels, and we are seeing results.” The city currently has an active development pipeline of 18,644 units of housing. There are more than 8,000 new units of housing in construction in Boston, which the city says represents more construction employment in the housing sector than at any time in the last 20 years. In total, 35,808 new units of housing have either been completed or are in the development process in the city. According to the report, recent data indicates a slight decrease in the growth of rents in Boston’s older buildings (completed prior to 2011). Citywide, rents for a two-bedroom apartment in an older building increased 3% last year, which is approximately normal annual rental growth.  Demand remains high, however, for studios and one-bedroom apartments, which respectively saw 13% and 9% growth in rental prices last year. Some neighborhoods may also be seeing slower rental pricing growth in their respective existing stock. City officials say that rents in Back Bay/Beacon Hill, Mattapan, the South End, and the Central district, have only risen by 1% to 2% since 2014. The largest residential project to receive city approval in the first quarter was the 585-unit 345 Harrison Ave. project in the South End. The $31.2-million Cote Village was the largest affordable development to secure BRA approval in the first quarter with 60 new affordable units to be built at a former car dealership site in Mattapan. Two areas where the city is not meeting its projected Boston 2030 targets are in the senior and student housing sectors. The city is well behind on its goal of creating 1,500 new units for low-income seniors and 3,500 new middle and market rate senior housing units. At present the city has three projects in the pipeline totaling 152 new low-income senior housing units. Currently, there is only one market rate senior housing development—Cleveland Circle (92 units)—in the city’s pipeline. The city has a goal of creating 16,000 new undergraduate dorm beds by 2030 and 2,500 new graduate beds during that same period. At present, with 3,170 new undergraduate beds permitted to date, the city is currently running at 75% of target. The city has 378 graduate dorm beds permitted, with is at 58% of target. In January of this year, the BRA Board approved the $125-million new Julie Hall project, a 19-story, 691-bed dorm building to be developed at Emerson College . The city is meeting or exceeding its targets in three of five affordable housing categories. It is posting its best marks—155% of target—in the production of deed-restricted units for the middle class. Skanska’s Watermark Seaport project had the most new deed-restricted middle-income completions in the first quarter at 45 units.