Building for All: Conclusion

Massachusetts faces an urgent and growing need for housing affordable to residents with extremely low incomes, those for whom the private market will never fully provide.

The Special Commission on Extremely Low-Income Housing recognizes that meeting this need will require sustained commitment, targeted investment, and a coordinated strategy across all levels of government. The recommendations outlined in this report provide a roadmap for building, preserving, and supporting deeply affordable housing while improving the efficiency and equity of the systems that deliver that housing and support residents who live there.

The Commonwealth has already demonstrated national leadership through its strong public housing portfolio, robust rental assistance programs, and recent historic investments in affordable housing. Yet, to ensure that every Massachusetts resident has access to a safe, stable, and affordable home, the Commonwealth must continue to strengthen these foundations. By expanding production, preserving affordability, and enhancing supportive services, Massachusetts can not only meet immediate housing needs but also build a more inclusive, resilient, and equitable future. 

Through the actions recommended by this Commission, the Commonwealth can move decisively toward a vision of housing abundance that leaves no one behind—ensuring that every household, regardless of income, can thrive in a safe and affordable home.

End Notes

1. An Act Relative to the Affordable Homes Act, Ch. 150, §128, Acts of 2024 (Massachusetts)
2. An Act Relative to the Affordable Homes Act, Ch. 150, §128, Acts of 2024 (Massachusetts)
3. The Continuum of Care (CoC) Program provides funding for state and local governments and nonprofit service providers to support services and programming for individuals and families experiencing homelessness. In Massachusetts, the program is managed by 11 regional and local Continuums of Care, local and regional planning bodies which coordinate housing and services for these individuals and families within their region.
4. Approximations are based on EOHLC tabulations of 2023 ACS public use microdata using HMFAlevel ELI income limits accessed via HUDUser. Public Use Microdata Areas (PUMAs) are the smallest geographic units used in the ACS, while HUD Fair Market Areas (HFMAs) are the 44 geographic units used by HUD to determine fair market rent. For the purpose of this analysis, PUMAs contained exclusively within one HMFA inherit the ELI income limit from that HMFA. PUMAs that span multiple HMFAs use a weighted average of income limits from each HMFA, weighted by number of occupied housing units on the 2020 Decennial Census. Source: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Income Limits 2023 Summary for Massachusetts.
5. National Low Income Housing Coalition. The Gap: A Shortage of Affordable Homes. Washington, DC: National Low Income Housing Coalition, March 2025.
6. EOHLC tabulations of 2023 ACS public use microdata (PUMS). For the purpose of this tabulation, HLC considers earned income to include both wage and salary income (PUMS variable WAGP) and self-employment income (PUMS variableSEMP). Source: U.S. Census Bureau, “2023 ACS Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS) Data Access.”
7. EOHLC tabulations of 2023 ACS public use microdata. For the purpose of this tabulation, HLC considers retirement income to include both individual retirement income (PUMS variable RETP) and Social Security or railroad retirement benefits (PUMS variable SSAP). Source: U.S. Census Bureau, “2023 ACS Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS) Data Access.”
8. EOHLC tabulations of 2023 ACS public use microdata. For the purposes of this tabulation, HLC considers cash safety net programs to include both cash public assistance through a state or local welfare office (PUMS variable PAP) and SSI (PUMS variable SSIP). Source: U.S. Census Bureau, “2023 ACS Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS) Data Access.”
9. Housing is considered affordable when a household spends no more than 30 percent of its income on housing expenses, which include rent or mortgage payments, utilities, insurance, property taxes, and association fees. Households spending more than 30 percent of their income on these expenses are classified as cost burdened, while those spending over half their income for housing are considered severely cost burdened.
10. EOHLC estimates tabulated using the IRS EITC Assistant tool Source: Internal Revenue Service. "EITC Assistant." IRS.gov. September 2025.
11. If the spending power of this high-scenario household were allocated evenly across 12 months, it would be the equivalent of $650 per month. It is unlikely that households would allocate all of this spending power toward housing. If a household spent this additional resource in proportion to the income-based 30% cost burden test, they would have $195 of additional spending power for housing each month, while a household spending at the 50% severe cost burden threshold would spend $325 per month.
12. VLI households are defined as those earning 50% or less of area median income (AMI). Source: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, "Consolidated Planning/CHAS Data," Table 17B (sum of estimates 3, 4, 8, 9, 13, 14, 18, 19), HUD User.
13. Section 8 refers to the federal Housing Choice Voucher Program, which provides low-income 
    households with monthly rental assistance subsidies.
14. “The Massachusetts Rental Voucher Program: Maintaining the State’s Primary Homelessness 
    Prevention Tool,” CHAPA, June 2009.
15. “The Massachusetts Rental Voucher Program: Maintaining the State’s Primary Homelessness 
    Prevention Tool,” CHAPA, June 2009.
16. Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities, Massachusetts Rental Voucher Program, 
    Alternative Housing Voucher Program data, September 2025.
17. Housing Navigator Massachusetts, Data Opens Doors: Affordable and Accessible Rentals (Boston: Housing Navigator Massachusetts, 2024).
18. Note: $35,000 in annual household earnings does not exactly match the threshold to be 
    considered extremely low-income in all regions of the Commonwealth but closely approximates 
    the threshold in order to provide a helpful visualization of demand across the Commonwealth’s 
    varied area median incomes.
19. National Low Income Housing Coalition. “The Gap: A Shortage of Affordable Homes,” National 
    Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC), March 2025.
20. National Low Income Housing Coalition. “The Gap: A Shortage of Affordable Homes,” National 
    Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC), March 2019.
21. National Low Income Housing Coalition. “The Gap: A Shortage of Affordable Homes,” National 
    Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC), March 2025.
22. Only 4 states have state-funded public housing programs: Connecticut, Hawaii, Massachusetts, and New York. Source: Massachusetts Chapter of the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials. (Mass. NAHRO), "Massachusetts Public Housing Facts." Mass. NAHRO, 2021.
23. National Low Income Housing Coalition, “Rental Housing Programs Database,” National Low 
    Income Housing Coalition, 2025.
24. Note: Strategy aligns with recommendations of the Accessible, Senior Housing Commissions for 
    adjustments to QAP supporting those communities’ needs.
25. The Qualified Allocation Plan (QAP) requires that 16% of units in eligible projects be affordable to 
    households with ELIs. References to ELI housing and ELI housing developments thus contemplate 
    developments with 16% or greater of units affordable to these households.
26. Note: Aligns with Senior Housing Commission recommendations 1.1-1.3
27. The Qualified Allocation Plan (QAP) requires that 16% of units in eligible projects be affordable to households with ELIs. References to ELI housing and ELI housing developments thus contemplate developments where units affordable to these households account for at least 16% of all units.
28. “A Home for Everyone: Statewide Housing Needs Assessment,” Massachusetts Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities (HLC), February 2025.
29. Jasmine Laws, “Map Shows States With Most—and Least—Expensive Utility Bills,” Newsweek, 
    November 2025.