Beantown's Housing Crunch

"[M]edian housing prices increased by about 50 percent in Greater Boston between 1999 and 2006, while real household incomes were basically flat. In 1998...the median-income family could afford the median-priced home in 148 of 161 Greater Boston communities; by 2006, in just 12 communities."

"The cost of rentals has been rising just as fast. All this, of course, represents a real hit to family incomes. If you have to spend half of your income to get a roof over your head, you are that much poorer. If you have to double up to get a decent place to live, that's a decline in your standard of living."

"The housing squeeze also hurts the Commonwealth's economy. As Charles Baker, CEO of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, testified, his employees have difficulty finding affordable places to live. The housing crisis is driving Massachusetts employers to expand in New Hampshire rather than here."

"There is a common thread here. Affordable housing requires social investment, plus public-minded regulation. The profit motive can sometimes serve public purposes, but most mortgage bankers and most developers are in it to make a buck and will achieve social goals only with careful government rules and monitoring."