Concerned about the health impacts associated with the lack of affordable housing, the MetroWest Health Foundation released a report detailing the affordable housing crisis in the MetroWest area of Massachusetts. The report, “Shut Out: Understanding the affordable housing crisis in MetroWest,” details the high costs of and instability in the region’s housing market over the past decade, and how the pandemic has intensified these issues.
The report highlights differences in the rates of homeownership by race, specific populations affected by a lack of affordable housing, and the rapid increase in home values and rental rates over the past two years. Data from 2020 show that in most MetroWest communities, a family of four with median income wanting to spend less than 30 percent of their income on housing could choose from fewer than 1 in 10 homes and fewer than 1 in 4 two-bedroom rental units. And the full effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the housing market in MetroWest remain to be seen as the rates of eviction filings in Framingham and Marlborough, Massachusetts since most pandemic-related housing assistance programs have ended are among the highest in the eastern part of the state. These two communities alone had nearly 300 eviction filings in the first six months of this year.
Contact: Kate Baker at kbaker@mwhealth.org.