Chamber endorses Question 7: Legalize Starter Homes

Rules mandating how large a plot of land must be to accommodate a single-family home have shaped suburban communities like ours for more than half a century.

But as time goes on and land becomes increasingly scarce, those same zoning rules have also made it harder to build the smaller, more attainable homes that once helped define the American Dream.

In Newton, Needham, Watertown, Wellesley and Brookline, minimum lot sizes can reach 10,000, 15,000, 20,000 or even 25,000 square feet. 

Here’s why that’s a problem: When an older, modest home on one of those lots is torn down, the economics of lot-size rules all but guarantee it will be replaced with a larger, more expensive one. 

Question 7, on the ballot this fall, changes that equation. The initiative would cap minimum lot sizes at 5,000 square feet, giving owners an incentive to divide their large lots and build smaller homes.

A young nurse, teacher, restaurant manager or software engineer hoping to put down roots does not need a five-bedroom home on half an acre. They need a home they can afford, close to their job, great schools and in a community where they can build their lives. The same holds true for seniors ready to downsize — a smaller home lets them stay in the community they've called home for decades, instead of being priced out. That's not a new or radical idea. It's the same deal so many of our own families, neighbors and members got a generation or two ago. 

Question 7 is a chance to keep that deal open for the next generation, too.

The initiative would also meaningfully increase our housing supply, and that’s important to employers across our region who struggle to recruit and retain workers who cannot afford to live anywhere near their jobs. 

Research from the Tufts Center for State Policy Analysis estimates that Question 7 could increase single-family construction by approximately 15% and overall housing production by about 5%, resulting in roughly 750 additional homes annually. Because our Boston-area suburbs are in such strong demand and already connected to both water and sewer (a requirement of the initiative along with 50ft of frontage), the same analysis finds that much of the new production would be concentrated in communities like ours.

No single policy will solve Massachusetts' housing crisis. Question 7 won't do it alone. But increasing housing production and creating more attainable paths to homeownership must be at the center of any serious solution. 

That's why the Charles River Regional Chamber strongly supports a yes vote on Question 7 this November.