The Southeastern region of Massachusetts extends from Boston suburbs to the Gateway Cities of Buzzard’s Bay. South Coast Rail to Fall River and New Bedford. The newly-opened South Coast Rail will bring new opportunities to Southeastern MA residents as well as threats to the remaining affordability in urban communities if an influx of new residents outpaces production. Even though the population is likely 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 are dissolving. EOHLC projects the region needs to add 14,200 homes to the year-round housing stock in order 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, and Taunton as well as other coastal and suburban towns near Providence, Rhode Island. The region also has proximity to 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 its prominent Portuguese heritage (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 cranberry bogs, forests, and coastal wetlands.
Like other regions in the state, the limited supply of affordable housing is an issue for the Southeastern region.[1][2] As of 2023, four municipalities have reached the state’s 10 percent requirement of year-round housing to be deed-restricted affordable. Approximately 60 percent of the region’s housing stock is single-family housing, with a median sale price of $420,000.[3] The housing stock is also older and approximately 45 percent of properties in the region were built before 1960.
Southeastern Mass Housing Demand
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 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 even Gen X households may grow by 2,200. Meanwhile the number of Baby Boomers and Silent Generation households may decline by just 40,100, resulting in a net increase of 9,600 households (3.6%). Most Boomer householders will still be around in 2035-they will 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 Old Colony region needs to add 14,200 homes to the year-round stock over the next decade in order 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 the individual municipalities within the region. As of 2024, four municipalities have approved housing production plans, one has a pre-approved plan, another one has completed their plan (not yet approved), five are in the process of developing their plan, and the rest either have expired or no existing plan.
As a region with vast natural areas, environmental constraints may deter housing development. SRPEDD has conducted typology research to better understand the extent of the region’s natural landscape and character the built environments and land uses within developed areas. They 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 plans to use this to inform future work as they can consider the average typology of a town.
According to SRPEDD, “the existing condition of the landscape and its position along the typology spectrum drives the types of solutions that are most needed and most effective in a given context at accomplishing environmental, economic, and social resilience outcomes.” Not only does a typology framework and assessment help inform where housing development can occur, but integrates strategies for resilience and climate-consensus housing design and development.
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