A ballot measure in Massachusetts meant to make it easier to build starter homes will provide a test case for directly asking voters to increase the housing supply to address the affordability problem afflicting the nation.
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it → mean → nation
The referendum, Question 7, asks voters to ban localities in the Bay State from implementing large minimum lot requirements for houses, so as to allow smaller lots and more modestly sized housing to be built.
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lots → ask → houses
Minimum lot sizes would be capped at 5,000 square feet.
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sizes → cap → feet
The vote has national significance because it represents a new strategy in the quest to reduce the zoning and land-use rules that restrict the housing supply.
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that → have → supply
Rather than trying to work through local governments, pro-housing supply advocates are trying to get voters to enact change at the state level — and thereby send a message to legislators that pro-supply policies are popular.
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policies → try → legislators
“Part of the hope is that doing this with a ballot campaign, as opposed to through the legislative process, demonstrates to lawmakers that there is an appetite among voters for zoning reform,” said Andrew Mikula, the chief housing economist at the Pioneer Institute, a Boston-based think tank.
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Mikula → do → Institute
Mikula started the petition to get Question 7 on the ballot and is one of the leaders of the campaign in favor.
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Mikula → start → favor
He said that allowing for greater construction of starter homes could help ease the housing affordability problem in the Greater Boston area.
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allowing → say → area
Some states, such as Maine and Kansas, have already limited minimum lot sizes.
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states → limit → sizes
And reformers also cite Houston as a success, crediting it with adding tens of thousands of homes after capping minimum lot sizes in the late 1980s.
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reformers → cite → 1980s
Massachusetts is an important case because it has long suffered from housing supply problems that have now spread across the country and driven up prices.
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that → suffer → prices
Homeownership in the area has slipped out of reach for most people.
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Homeownership → slip → people
The median price of a single-family home in the Boston area was $844,600 in the second quarter of this year, according to the National Association of Realtors.
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price → accord → Realtors
At those prices, even a couple of professionals who both have six-figure incomes will struggle to find a home to buy.
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who → have → home
For younger people, in particular, the lack of homes at lower price points is a major obstacle to putting down roots and or starting a family.
“We need lower rungs on the housing ladder to help folks build equity and build community,” Mikula said.
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Mikula → put → community
Minimum lot sizes spread to Massachusetts as part of a major downzoning in the 1970s, said Amy Dain, an expert on Massachusetts land-use laws who works at Boston Indicators.
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who → spread → Indicators
At the time, local officials worried that starter homes on smaller lots could invite younger families with children to move into town, taking advantage of the school system but paying few taxes.
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homes → worry → taxes
The downzoning also came during the civil rights era, when many towns feared an influx of black residents.
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towns → come → residents
Whatever the motivation, large lot sizes drive up prices by restricting the overall supply of developable land.
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sizes → drive → land
They also make it difficult for developers to turn a profit on smaller, less expensive homes because they have to invest more upfront for the land.
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they → make → land
Mikula suggested that the policy of capping minimum lot sizes at 5,000 square feet could add more than 5,000 new units per year, roughly doubling the number of new single-family units permitted in the state in recent years.
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policy → suggest → years
That estimate is based on an analysis from Boston University professor Maxwell Palmer, finding that there are 350,000 parcels across Massachusetts that would be affected by the change.
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that → base → change
campaign for “yes” on Question 7 has support from a range of figures and interests in the state, including Gov. Maura Healey (D-MA).
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campaign → have → Healey
And a 2025 poll suggested strong support for decreasing minimum lot sizes.
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poll → suggest → sizes
But the Massachusetts Municipal Association, which represents the towns and cities, opposes it.
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which → represent → it
“We think local leaders, mayors, select board members, town managers, city councilors — they’re best positioned to make decisions about what’s best for their community,” executive director Adam Chapdelaine said in a recent interview.
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Chapdelaine → think → interview
Having voters override local interest, though, is a feature of the measure, not a bug, from the perspective of its backers.
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voters → have → backers
Dain said decades of pro-housing-supply advocacy for reforms that work through local governments have yielded only marginal benefits, or created other problems.
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that → say → problems
For example, in 2021, the state legislature passed a law requiring cities and towns that are served by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority to establish at least one district in which multifamily housing is permitted by right.
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housing → pass → right
But that requirement has faced outright rebellion from some towns since its enactment.
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requirement → face → enactment
At the same time, towns that have embraced it, such as Lexington, could face a sort of flood of multifamily construction.
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that → embrace → construction
It is “almost unfair” to those towns to have to do more than their fair share, Dains said.
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Dains → have → share
Question 7 is designed to avoid swamping smaller towns with new housing and instead target localities that are already developed.
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that → design → localities
It is limited to areas that already have access to public sewer and water services.
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that → limit → services
That stipulation means the policy would mostly affect areas with access to jobs and transit, rather than spur sprawl by pushing construction farther out into the exurbs.
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policy → mean → exurbs
In other words, it would require that the high-income towns near Boston allow more people to move in and benefit from the local economy.
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people → require → economy
“The idea is we’re setting kind of a baseline for what we should expect to allow in terms of housing in places that expect to participate in a metropolitan economy in the 21st century,” Mikula said.
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Mikula → set → century
Local lawmakers are typically more deferential to existing homeowners and people who will take the time to show up to a planning meeting to object to new construction.
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who → exist → construction
But if the referendum has a strong showing, it could lead town and city officials to embrace pro-housing-supply measures more confidently, knowing that the majority of voters welcome them.
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majority → have → them
Massachusetts is unusually complex for developers because it has more than 300 different land-use jurisdictions that have individualized rules and processes for permitting housing.
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that → have → housing
…and 4 more, not listed.
The Aporia
