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Boston Indicators

@bosindicators.bsky.social
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The Boston Foundation’s research center, focusing on ideas to make our city more prosperous, equitable and just.

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Boston Indicators @bosindicators.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
“This discretion is not without costs.” Permitting delays can add months or years to housing construction timelines. And they can discourage builders from even proposing housing projects. To learn more, check out the report.
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Boston Indicators @bosindicators.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
And because these approvals are often interdependent, a change made late in the process can require a project to return to a board that has already reviewed it.”
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Boston Indicators @bosindicators.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Builders seeking permits have to navigate city, state, and federal regulations, a substantial challenge, the report says, as “even a relatively small five- or ten-unit project can require review by multiple municipal boards, departments, and outside agencies before construction can begin.
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Boston Indicators @bosindicators.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
In our new report, “Delayed by Design: How Discretionary Permitting Stalls Housing in Massachusetts,” buff.ly/iy3Hs2c we look at how challenging it can be to secure a building permit.
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Boston Indicators @bosindicators.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
"But we need to be better at this and recognize some of the additional reforms beyond just zoning reforms that can be a part of this process.” To learn more, check out the resource page, and watch the video of Berk’s presentation.
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Boston Indicators @bosindicators.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
As Berk said at the conference: “It's important to look at the fact that we are building housing, and we're building housing at a pace that we haven't seen in a while...
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Boston Indicators @bosindicators.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
• a video of Jonathan Berk’s presentation on the new BI report he authored, “Delayed by Design.” buff.ly/iy3Hs2c; and • slides from presentations by Boston Indicators’ Amy Dain and Sam Naylor, an architect and partner at Nominal
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Delayed by Design
How discretionary permitting stalls housing in Massachusetts, even on sites where zoning already allows it.
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Boston Indicators @bosindicators.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Highlights from our recent “Conference on Housing Land Use and Building Reform” buff.ly/0NfmErn include: • an overview of the zoning and regulatory barriers that are making it hard to build housing
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Boston Indicators @bosindicators.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
A yearlong delay could cost $228,000 and a four-year delay could cost $912,000. The factors driving the increased costs include interest on loans, property taxes, site maintenance, security, legal fees, and insurance. To learn more, check out the report.
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Boston Indicators @bosindicators.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
How much does it cost when housing projects face delays? A three-month delay for a hypothetical 20-unit infill project can raise costs by $57,000, according to our new report, “Delayed by Design: How Discretionary Permitting Stalls Housing in Massachusetts.” buff.ly/2RQB4fc
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Boston Indicators @bosindicators.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
"The result is a fragmented system across 351 cities and towns where each practices its own different system of project review.” This point is driven home in profiles of construction projects in Arlington, Lexington, Marblehead, Melrose, Newton, and Salem. To learn more, check out the report.
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Boston Indicators @bosindicators.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
“A community may technically allow housing,” the report says, but the building process may be subjected to “discretionary review and procedural hurdles that make actual construction uncertain.
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Boston Indicators @bosindicators.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
The report was written by Jonathan Berk, the founder of re:MAIN buff.ly/awUtQdb.
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Boston Indicators @bosindicators.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
The central lesson of our new report, “Delayed by Design: How Discretionary Permitting Stalls Housing in Massachusetts” buff.ly/2RQB4fc is that permissive zoning codes that look good on paper do not guarantee an actual right to build housing.
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Boston Indicators @bosindicators.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Learn more in our report, “Delayed by Design: How Discretionary Permitting Stalls Housing in Massachusetts.” buff.ly/VrboRp2
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Boston Indicators @bosindicators.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
—Courtney Brunson, The Boston Foundation, at our conference, "Housing, Land Use and Building Reform"
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Boston Indicators @bosindicators.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
"...that more families have the opportunity to own and pass something on to future generations. These are not abstractions; they're not talking points. They are the reason this work matters now more than ever before."
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Boston Indicators @bosindicators.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
"And when you learn that homeowners hold a median net wealth of 790,000, while renters hold a median wealth of just $1,500, you must remember that the development of condos, duplexes, and multifamily homeownership units across the state means...
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Boston Indicators @bosindicators.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
"When you know that the statewide vacancy rate sits at just 1.6 percent, you should picture the senior homeowner in Roxbury who wants the downsize but has nowhere to go, or the rental rental voucher holder in Somerville struggling to find a unit."
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Boston Indicators @bosindicators.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
"When you think about who is on the other side of these barriers, it's not an abstraction; it's real people.
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Boston Indicators @bosindicators.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
"We heard today that barriers, from restrictive zoning to lengthy permitting processes, make it difficult to build the homes our communities need to help people establish roots, build wealth, and live prosperous lives.
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Boston Indicators @bosindicators.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
To learn more, check out our new report, “Delayed by Design: How Discretionary Permitting Stalls Housing in Massachusetts.” buff.ly/VrboRp2
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Boston Indicators @bosindicators.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
"Given the level of uncertainty today, locally, nationally, even internationally, transparency and predictability are the highest priority." —Lauren Jezienicki, Founder & CEO of One Circle, a multifamily development company, at our conference, "Housing, Land Use and Building Reform
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Boston Indicators @bosindicators.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
"When our models are wrong, when a project stalls or a cost overrun kills a deal. It isn't just our capital and time that's lost; it's the housing that never gets built for the people who needed it.
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Boston Indicators @bosindicators.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Check out our housing reports to learn more. buff.ly/cpwFeBo
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Boston Indicators @bosindicators.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Panelists at our conference—"Housing, Land Use and Building Reform"—discuss an agenda for reform.
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Boston Indicators @bosindicators.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
To learn more, check out our housing reports. buff.ly/cpwFeBo
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Boston Indicators @bosindicators.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
"Our regulatory complex is complex. We're throwing our arms around it today... We have created this system, and we've recreated the system, and we are totally capable now of reforming the system and creating the system we need to get people the housing that they need." —Amy Dain, Boston Indicators
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Boston Indicators @bosindicators.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Learn more in our report, "An Early Look at the MBTA Communities Permitting Pipeline." buff.ly/0fa0FEG
bostonindicators.org
An Early Look at the MBTA Communities Permitting Pipeline
A first look at projects in the early MBTA Communities permitting pipeline to assess what they suggest about future housing production in Massachusetts.
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Boston Indicators @bosindicators.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
The lesson here is that changing state zoning rules works, and we have more opportunities to do it. — Amy Dain, Boston Indicators, at our conference, "Housing, Land Use and Building Reform."
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Boston Indicators @bosindicators.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Learn more in our report, "Unlocking Small Multifamily Housing through Building Code Reform." buff.ly/7QEa0yj
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Boston Indicators @bosindicators.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Spain typically builds small multifamily low-rise and mid-rise with a lot more elevators, so that every unit—townhouses, three-story buildings—everyone has an elevator.
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Boston Indicators @bosindicators.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
We have far fewer elevators than everywhere else in the world... which means far less accessibility. We require elevators to be bigger and more bespoke for accessibility reasons, and that means we have fewer elevators and less accessibility. — Sam Naylor, Founding Partner, Nominal
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Boston Indicators @bosindicators.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
And "Delayed by Design: How Discretionary Permitting Stalls Housing in Massachusetts.” buff.ly/VrboRp2
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Boston Indicators @bosindicators.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
"Unlocking Small Multifamily Housing through Building Code Reform" buff.ly/7QEa0yj
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Boston Indicators @bosindicators.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Legalizing Mid-Rise Single Stair Housing in Massachusetts buff.ly/uVWWRkl
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Boston Indicators @bosindicators.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Three of our reports look at codes and permitting and how they delay housing construction. These reports are:
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Boston Indicators @bosindicators.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
But in the United States, building codes call for buildings that have multiple staircases.
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Boston Indicators @bosindicators.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Around the world, the defacto way to build new housing is in single-stair configurations that are extremely safe. — Sam Naylor, Founding Partner, Nominal
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Boston Indicators @bosindicators.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
• liberalizing underlying zoning rules to reduce the need for variances and special permits, and • enacting more state laws that set limits on discretionary reviews To learn more, check out the report.
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Boston Indicators @bosindicators.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Policy solutions for addressing this problem include: • streamlining site plan reviews, which has been done by The Northern Middlesex Council of Governments, a regional planning agency that serves the Greater Lowell/Northern Middlesex region
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Boston Indicators @bosindicators.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Addressing the permitting delays—including discretionary reviews and lawsuits—that make housing construction take months or years longer will take a multipronged approach, as we explain in our report, “Delayed by Design: How Discretionary Permitting Stalls Housing in Massachusetts.” buff.ly/VrboRp2
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Boston Indicators @bosindicators.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
“Loans and equity commitments are underwritten assuming a specific project scope, timeline, and budget, so when board actions push a project away from what was financed, the developer may need to return to lenders or investors to renegotiate terms.” To learn more, check out the report.
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Boston Indicators @bosindicators.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
A yearlong delay could cost $228,000 and four-year delay could cost $912,000. The increased costs include interest on loans, property taxes, site maintenance, security, legal fees, and insurance.
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Boston Indicators @bosindicators.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
How much does it cost when housing projects face delays? A three-month delay for a hypothetical 20-unit infill project can raise costs by $57,000, according to our new report, “Delayed by Design: How Discretionary Permitting Stalls Housing in Massachusetts.” buff.ly/VrboRp2
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Boston Indicators @bosindicators.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Learn more in our report, “Delayed by Design: How Discretionary Permitting Stalls Housing in Massachusetts.” buff.ly/VrboRp2
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Boston Indicators @bosindicators.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Four boards reviewed the project in parallel, and the only open issues were technical—like the dimensions of a driveway setback and a stormwater waiver.
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Boston Indicators @bosindicators.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Lexington’s pre-determined design standards also set the project up for success, leaving nothing about the project’s use or scale up for debate.
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Boston Indicators @bosindicators.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Lexington has been successful in limiting housing construction delays. By-right zoning via Lexington’s MBTA Communities plan led two commercial buildings and a parking lot to be transformed into 25 apartments, three of which are permanently affordable.
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Boston Indicators @bosindicators.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
In Marblehead, Mass., it took nearly eight years and multiple court cases for an 87-unit, assisted living facility to be approved, despite being exactly the type of project Marblehead’s own plans said was needed. To learn more about these and other case studies, check out the report.
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