Brookline epitomizes the current national housing crisis. Why is it that only 14% of

Brookline teachers live in the town? With the median rent above $3,800, Brookline is unaffordable.[1] Decades of policy choices and zoning restrictions have left us with a housing shortage that drives costs to astronomical levels and pushes out residents.[2] Thankfully, the solution is straightforward: build more housing. The housing market is not immune to the forces of supply and demand. When we build more supply, or a surplus of housing, prices will fall.[3][4][5][6] Brookline Town Meeting has a duty to make this happen. By making more housing possible, we’ll deliver a more livable, more affordable Brookline for teachers, students, working families, and everyone.

When Brookline voted in the 1970s to ban or restrict anything other than single-

family housing,[7] it laid the foundation for today’s unaffordability. Over the past 50 years, Brookline has averaged a measly 74 new units per year. As population rose and demand increased, we found ourselves with a shortage of housing – a mismatch of supply and demand that has pushed prices ever higher.[8]

We can correct that unaffordability. As it stands now, if three people want one unit,

they will push the price of that unit higher as they try to outbid each other. This is the source of our housing crisis. If three people need three units, Brookline Town Meeting needs to make those units possible. To build more housing, we need to streamline permitting processes,[9] reduce costly restrictions on housing construction, support upzoning measures, and fund our Affordable Housing Trust Fund.[10]

Town Meeting this May will consider two articles to address the cost of housing. One

will ask the state to eliminate broker fees, which add difficult upfront costs for working renters already strained by rental costs. The other will add a real estate transfer fee to increase funding to our Affordable Housing Trust Fund that supports units for lower-income families. I am strongly in support of both measures, especially the latter, which will help add much-needed affordable housing to Brookline. ​

​​​​

1. https://www.zillow.com/rental-manager/market-trends/brookline-ma/

2. https://apps.bostonglobe.com/2023/10/special-projects/spotlight-boston-housing/brookline-identity-crisis/

3. https://commonwealthbeacon.org/housing/study-says-boosting-housing-production-tempers-rents/

4. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4629628

5. https://jbartlett.org/2024/05/surprise-when-housing-supply-meets-demand-prices-stabilize/

6. https://cayimby.org/blog/yes-building-market-rate-housing-lowers-rents-heres-how/

7. https://maps.brooklinema.gov/datasets/Brookline::zoning-districts/explore?filters=eyJaT05FQ0xBU1MiOlsiTS0wLjUiLCJNLTEuMCIsIk0tMS41IiwiTS0yLjUiLCJNLTEuMChDQU0pIiwiTS0yLjAiXX0%3D&location=42.330026%2C-71.115383%2C13.00

8. https://nationalmortgageprofessional.com/news/us-now-short-45-million-homes

9. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/19/podcasts/transcript-ezra-klein-interviews-jenny-schuetz.html

10. https://brownpoliticalreview.org/how-minneapolis-stabilized-rents/