why is MA so expensive? (Boston, Peabody: costs, rail, design)

[GeoffD]

Originally Posted by redplum33

If that were to happen, would those places stay affordable?

Yep. They would remain affordable. The issue is the radius of viable commuting distance to Boston. The square miles of available residential housing increases as the square of the distance. If you can easily get to commuter rail 50 miles out and be in Boston in 25 minutes, you've opened up an enormous supply of housing.

[massnative71]

Originally Posted by redplum33

If that were to happen, would those places stay affordable?

Originally Posted by GeoffD

Yep. They would remain affordable. The issue is the radius of viable commuting distance to Boston. The square miles of available residential housing increases as the square of the distance. If you can easily get to commuter rail 50 miles out and be in Boston in 25 minutes, you've opened up an enormous supply of housing.

Another thing is, those places 50 miles out are generally friendlier to development than the extreme NIMBY towns surrounding Boston, so that will reduce pressure.

[massnative71]

Originally Posted by GeoffD

You're not going to get the elite Boston suburbs to zone for high density affordable housing so it's pointless to go there. Won't happen. Ever.

Probably right, but any conversation about why MA is so expensive must at least include that factor. And if that doesn't change, the state WILL suffer long term damage as a result.

Originally Posted by GeoffD

There's no room to add lanes to highways and it's incredibly expensive to do so if you try.

Not true, there are areas with room to widen and that SHOULD be widened. 2 lane parts of Rte. 3 and 24, Mass Pike from Sturbridge to 128, the northern half of 495. The 128/93 interchange in Woburn needs to be blown up and rebuilt from scratch. It will require expensive eminent domain, but still needs to happen (yesterday).

[matrix5k]

Originally Posted by bugelrex

Any major increase of density should be driven by demand. If tech continues to grow and companies can no longer afford the salaries... they will either
- move out
- threaten to leave. Watch how quickly zoning will be changed if amazon, google, amgen leave boston because of lack of infrastructure for employees

... build too much without real demand and boston will not survive the next housing downturn. Businesses will force the density direction at some point

Uhhh ever heard of San Francisco? They don't allow more housing to be built but none of the tech companies have left, if anything there are more and more tech companies moving there despite the lack of housing and more people are still moving in.

Originally Posted by GeoffD

The day I graduated from college, I moved to a place with better economic opportunity. I didn't expect someone to magically create employment and affordable housing in my West Portugal home town for me. Other than the bottom 20% where the lack of portability of the safety net locks them down in Massachusetts and preventing labor mobility, the rest of us are free to move to the place that presents the best opportunity.

This. I've moved nearly every year from age 18 until early 30s. I've packed up all of my belongings in my Honda Accord and driven across country 3 times. I go where the work is. Everyone has this idea that young people have the right to live in an expensive area with high demand and short supply. It is a privilege to live here, not a right. If you can't afford it, do what I did and move to cheaper parts - you don't even have to leave the state. I lived in Boston for one year then realized I couldn't afford it, so I moved outside 495 and stayed there for years cause it was cheap. When I had enough saved, I moved back inside 95. I never once complained that I was forced out of the city or that I deserved to be there.

[wolfgang239]

Originally Posted by matrix5k

This. I've moved nearly every year from age 18 until early 30s. I've packed up all of my belongings in my Honda Accord and driven across country 3 times. I go where the work is. Everyone has this idea that young people have the right to live in an expensive area with high demand and short supply.

Good for you, everyone loves a warm fuzzy pull up your bootstraps story.

But this isn't just some entitled kiddos who haven't suffered yet and want to move in next door to the place I'm sure you slaved so hard to buy over the years. It is that the whole region is unaffordable for a vast group of people. Not just new college grads with no experience, the guy from El Salvador who is making your lunch or the folks cleaning the office. It is most people, and they then get to suffer and waste their lives commuting 3 hours a day from 495 or taking a failing public transit system.

Telling someone to take a massive risk with what little savings they probably have away from any possible support system is just so far from reality. Just like many of the views on this forum.

[GeoffD]

Originally Posted by wolfgang239

Good for you, everyone loves a warm fuzzy pull up your bootstraps story.

But this isn't just some entitled kiddos who haven't suffered yet and want to move in next door to the place I'm sure you slaved so hard to buy over the years. It is that the whole region is unaffordable for a vast group of people. Not just new college grads with no experience, the guy from El Salvador who is making your lunch or the folks cleaning the office. It is most people, and they then get to suffer and waste their lives commuting 3 hours a day from 495 or taking a failing public transit system.

Telling someone to take a massive risk with what little savings they probably have away from any possible support system is just so far from reality. Just like many of the views on this forum.

Welcome to the commuter bus from New Bedford or Fall River. Irfox paid his dues doing that before getting his income up to the point where he could afford to live inside 128.

[wolfgang239]

Originally Posted by GeoffD

Welcome to the commuter bus from New Bedford or Fall River. Irfox paid his dues doing that before getting his income up to the point where he could afford to live inside 128.

Yes, I see you've figured it out. "Why is MA so expensive" has been shown to include such unfortunate and unsustainable situations as taking a commuter bus back and forth for 4 hours a day.

Any thoughts on improving transit, zoning or reducing congestion? Or is a bunch of haves and have nots just the harsh reality of the world?

[missionhill]

Originally Posted by matrix5k

Uhhh ever heard of San Francisco? They don't allow more housing to be built but none of the tech companies have left, if anything there are more and more tech companies moving there despite the lack of housing and more people are still moving in.

Well, people complain about self-satisfaction among Bostonians but they have nothing on San Francisco people who think they're in paradise. Anyway, the northern Cal climate is hard to match. Boston lacks that advantage.

[GeoffD]

Originally Posted by wolfgang239

Yes, I see you've figured it out. "Why is MA so expensive" has been shown to include such unfortunate and unsustainable situations as taking a commuter bus back and forth for 4 hours a day.

Any thoughts on improving transit, zoning or reducing congestion? Or is a bunch of haves and have nots just the harsh reality of the world?

I’ve written endlessly about improving transit. It just doesn’t fit into your dialogue where lower income people can somehow afford to live in the gold plated desirable places in metro Boston.

[wolfgang239]

Originally Posted by GeoffD

It just doesn’t fit into your dialogue where l̶o̶w̶e̶r̶ ̶i̶n̶c̶o̶m̶e̶ ̶p̶e̶o̶p̶l̶e̶ everybody can afford to live in metro Boston.

Here, fixed that for you.