Housing Facts: Looking at the Numbers, Part 1

THE FACTS

• Population in Mass is 7 million.

• Housing units in the state 3 million.

• 62% of the housing units are owner occupied.

• Average amount of people per household 2.5 and the number is declining.

• All above data from https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/MA/PST045222

THE PROBLEM

• 200,000 housing units are needed statewide. This is the number the housing activists are floating around.

• Average cost per new unit construction is running $900,000 in Cambridge.

• Using those numbers $900,000 times 200,000 units is 180 Billion. For point of reference the state is projected to spend a bit over 50 billion this year.

• There are 351 communities in the state. If every single community did their “fair share” and created the same amount of units that would be 200,000 units divided by 351 or 570 additional units per community.

by Allen Hebert