Resources

All you ever wanted to know about housing, zoning and history

With special thanks to our partners at Equitable Arlington for contributing to these important resources

Introduction to Affordable Housing in Brookline, A Six part Training Series presented by Jonathan Klein, Board Member, Brookline for Everyone, to GBIO/Brookline Affordable Housing Action Group. Includes links to all of the slide decks (one for each session) and recordings of each session.

Glossary of Affordable Housing Terms -- here is a detailed listing of many of the words and concepts that are useful for understanding affordable housing, curated by David Rockwell and Jonathan Klein.

• Segregation by Design Comic [PDF]
  Comic summarizing the introduction to Jessica Trounstine’s book Segregation by Design showing how today’s housing decisions are shaped by past discriminatory local land-use decisions.
• Massachusetts Housing: A Three Prong Crisis
  Supply, affordability, and equity. A Short paper by UMass’s Mass Benchworks about these interrelated housing crises in Massachusetts.
• 10 Great Neighborhoods that are Illegal with Current Zoning
  10 towns in Massachusetts whose historic neighborhoods would be illegal under their current zoning rules.
• The Data-Backed Case for Increasing Housing
  Short paper by Housing Forward arguing that Massachusetts needs more housing at all income levels.

Massachusetts: Current Resources and Information

• The Waning Influence of Housing Production on Public School Enrollment
  Study by the Massachusetts Metropolitan Area Planning Council showing that the conventional wisdom that new housing production increases school enrollment is no longer true.
• MA Land Use Regulation Causes Segregation
  A 2013 thesis finding that restrictive zoning leads to fewer Black and Latino households in a town.
• State of Zoning for Multi Family Housing
  A deep dive into the regulations that encourage or prevent multifamily housing in the 100 cities and towns around Boston.
• Zoned Out: Why Massachusetts Needs to Legalize Apartments Near Transit
  An interactive report by Boston Indicators arguing that legalizing apartments near public transit increases social-economic diversity, reduces car dependence, and lowers prices.
• Legalizing Housing Near Transit in MA
  A 2020 Brookings report explaining why our housing affordability crisis requires statewide reforms focused on creating homes around public transportation centers.
• The Boston Foundation: Greater Boston Housing Report Card
  2022 Report Card on the state of housing challenges in Greater Boston, with suggestions for efforts we can take–from legislation and public policy to education and technical support.