News  Healey-Driscoll Administration holds housing listening sessions across the state

LYNN — Last Thursday, the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities (EOHLC) hosted the first of 14 regional listening sessions to engage stakeholders and solicit feedback as EOHLC develops the Healey-Driscoll Administration’s first five-year strategic statewide housing plan. 

“Housing costs are the biggest challenge facing our state, and these challenges have been decades in the making,” said Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll, Chair of the Housing Advisory Council. “Our administration is undertaking the first ever comprehensive statewide housing plan, and we’re working with stakeholders across the state to ensure that our policies and priorities are tailored to address the unique housing challenges and opportunities of each community.” 

“By bringing people together, we will build strategies to confront the housing struggles we face,” said Ed Augustus, secretary of the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities. “Ordinary Massachusetts residents who live and breathe our housing challenges every day are an important voice in this process and will help us build a stronger Massachusetts where everyone can afford to live.” 

Established through Executive Orders filed in conjunction with the Affordable Homes Act, the Housing Advisory Council and Commission on Unlocking Housing Production will convene a broad range of stakeholders from across Massachusetts to advise the Healey-Driscoll administration on strategies to address the state’s housing needs. 

Over the coming months, EOHLC will host an additional 13 listening sessions to learn about the unique regional challenges and opportunities for housing production and preservation across the state: 

Thursday’s session in Lynn brought a diverse group of people together to talk about housing with individuals participating in breakout groups. Nearly 100 people attended the event at North Shore Community College, which began with an overview of housing issues confronting the state of Massachusetts. Participants them attended breakout groups to discuss both housing challenges and potential solutions.  

The groups came back together at the end and shared their findings with each other and administration officials. Those findings, along with those collected in the remaining sessions across the state, will help inform the administration’s five-year plan.