The Southeastern region of Massachusetts extends from Boston suburbs to Buzzards Bay. The newly opened MBTA South Coast Rail links Boston to Fall River and New Bedford and will bring new economic opportunities to Southeastern MA residents, as well as threats to the remaining affordability in urban and suburban communities, particularly if an influx of new residents outpaces production. Even though the population is projected to decline slowly in the coming decade, the number of households in the region may grow by 9,200 as young adults form new households in greater numbers than older adult households that are dissolving. EOHLC projects the region needs to add 14,200 homes to the year-round housing stock to meet the needs of new Millennial and Gen Z households; address latent demand, homelessness, and overcrowding; and achieve a healthy vacancy rate.
Southeastern Mass Housing Overview
SRPEDD represents 27 cities and towns in the southeastern corner of Massachusetts, bordering Rhode Island and the coast along Buzzards Bay. The region includes the cities of New Bedford, Fall River, Taunton, and Attleboro, as well as other coastal, rural, and suburban towns. The region has proximity to Providence, RI, Boston, and Cape Cod and includes all of Bristol County as well as bordering towns in Plymouth and Norfolk counties. Southeastern Massachusetts is known for its history of whaling and cranberry farming, as well as its prominent Portuguese heritage (according to ACS 2019-2023 5-year estimates reported in table DP02, 36% of the population in Fall River and 31% of the population in New Bedford have Portuguese ancestry). The region also has abundant natural areas, including bogs, forests, and coastal wetlands.
Like other regions in the state, the limited supply of affordable housing is an issue for the Southeastern region. As of January 2025, seven municipalities in SRPEDD’s region have 10 percent of their housing stock eligible for inclusion on the Subsidized Housing Inventory. Approximately 60 percent of the region’s housing stock is single-family homes, with a median sale price of $420,000. The housing stock is also older—approximately 45 percent of properties in the region were built before 1960.
Projections and Housing Needs
Population scenarios indicate that, after a period of robust growth from 2010 – 2020, the number of residents is likely to decline slowly over the coming decades, by as much as 2.3% over ten years. Compared to other parts of the state, Southeastern MA has fewer Millennials. The region is projected to see steep declines across all age groups under 40. Baby Boomers make up 24% of the region’s population and they are all now 60 or older. The aging of this generation will result in an 18% increase in the number of older adults, especially those over 75.
Despite the stable population, the region is projected to see a growing number of households. Millennials and Gen Z residents are projected to form 49,500 new households, and Gen X households may also grow by 2,200. Meanwhile the number of Baby Boomers and Silent Generation households may decline by 40,100, resulting in a net increase of 9,600 households (3.6%). Most Boomer householders will still be around in 2035—they will be older and more likely to be low income. The number of older adult households is projected to increase by 18%, or 15,600 households.
Households headed by older adults are projected to grow across every income level, especially at lower incomes. The region is projected to experience an increase of 11,700 older adults with incomes below $75,000, including 5,512 extremely low-income older adults living alone. The total number of families with children in the region is projected to decline by less than 1%. An increase of 1,000 ELI families with children (many of whom may be in the shelter system or in overcrowded, “doubled-up” housing situations) is offset by declines in families at all incomes above $35,000. Notably, non-senior households without children are projected to decline across all income groups.
EOHLC projects that the Southeastern MA region needs to add 14,200 homes to the year-round stock over the next decade to achieve housing abundance, an increase of 5.1% over the 2020 housing stock. This includes about 4,600 additional homes available for sale or rent and 4,200 homes for households that are currently overcrowded, doubled up, homeless, or in otherwise unsuitable conditions. Under the high-growth scenario, the region could need as many as 17,100 homes, an increase of 6.1% over the 2020 housing stock.
Southeastern Mass Housing Strategies
SRPEDD is supporting the development of Housing Production Plans for several of the municipalities within the region. As of July 2025, five municipalities have approved Housing Production Plans, five are in the process of developing their plan, one has completed a plan, and the rest either have expired plans or no existing plans.
In a region with vast natural areas, environmental constraints may limit opportunities for housing development. As a part of the creation of the agency’s 2025 Regional Resilience Plan (“SRRP”), SRPEDD conducted typology research to better understand the extent of the region’s natural landscape and character of the built environments and land uses within developed areas. Staff defined six typologies in the region which are natural areas, rural fabric, suburban fabric, town center / neighborhood, town core / urban, and urban core. SRPEDD mapped these typologies across the region, and staff plan to use this to inform future work, as they can consider the range of typologies in each community. This categorization and increased level of specificity will provide more nuanced and customized planning approaches that address the varied range of needs facing communities in Southeastern Massachusetts. According to SRPEDD, “the existing condition of the landscape and its position along the typology spectrum drives the types of solutions [presented in the SRRP] that are most needed and most effective in a given context at accomplishing environmental, economic, and social resilience outcomes.” The typologies have helped inform the creation of planning best practices for resilient housing options (among many other resilience considerations) that account for the surrounding environmental contexts.
SRPEDD is also in the early stages of conducting a two-year regional Land Use Land Cover (LULC) study to evaluate land cover change associated with land use change through time to better inform municipal planning and zoning efforts. The study, funded by a 2025 EOEEA Planning Grant, would provide opportunities to quantify the effects of different development types on the natural environment and fiscal health of communities. Staff will classify uses into granular typologies (i.e., single-family subdivision, conservation subdivision, small multi-family, big box store, and so forth) to better understand how unique growth patterns influence and contribute to environmental factors (such as encroachment, habitat fragmentation, or the loss of ecosystem services provided by natural land cover types) and fiscal impacts (such as increased demand for municipal services and facilities, road maintenance, or school enrollment, or surrounding property costs). The goal of SRPEDD’s LULC study is to provide data-driven resources to demystify frequent, often negative, claims about housing and commercial density.
SRPEDD has also assisted several of its member communities with efforts to comply with the MBTA Communities Act and to adhere to the recent changes to c.40A to allow accessory dwelling units by-right.