Boston Skyline Construction

In this Friday, April 4, 2014 photo several commercial construction projects in the Seaport district of Boston are seen against the backdrop of the city's skyline. Friday, April 4, 2014. (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia)

(Stephan Savoia)

BOSTON -- On Wednesday Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh received a phone call from his mother.

Mary Walsh called her son to inform him that a family that has lived on Taft Street in Dorchester's Savin Hill neighborhood for over 30 years was leaving because their new landlord is converting the three-decker in which they live into condominiums.

While relaying the story, Mayor Walsh said that it is hard to blame somebody for wanting to make money on property that they own, but at the same time, neighborhoods suffer when they lose the stability brought about by long-term residents.

Walsh said stories like the one his mother told him are just part of the reason the city is embarking on an ambitious housing development plan that aims to build 53,000 new housing units by 2030, when the city is projected to have a population of over 700,000.



"There's going to be a need over the course of the next 10, 15 years for additional workers for industries and in order to get those workers, we have to create housing for them," said Walsh.

One of the city's main focuses in its plan is to develop housing for those in the middle and lower income brackets. Walsh openly admitted during an interview that building housing for the middle class in Boston, defined as households making between $50,000 and $125,000 annually, will be very difficult.

The report said that the city's ability to affect construction costs is limited, but Boston can encourage more moderate-income housing construction by tweaking permit rules, parking requirements, and zoning in some neighborhoods of the city.

Boston Department of Neighborhood Development Director Sheila A. Dillon said that some of the new middle income housing will remain middle income housing through deed restrictions but the vast majority will ultimately be market rate housing built in moderately priced neighborhoods.

"We're pretty confident that if we can increase the supply to the level that is called for, we may see rents and sales prices go up but the market will be tamed because we'll be building enough housing to meet the population growth," said Dillon.

Of the 53,000 new units the city aims to build, 8,000 will be designated as low-income housing units while 22,500 will be targeted specifically for middle-income residents. The remaining 22,500 new units will be market rate housing.

A report from the city found one of the main contributors to the shortage of available housing in the city is a lack of turnover as more seniors and empty-nesters are choosing to remain in their Boston homes as they age. The city factored that into its plan to build 5,000 new housing units for seniors across all income levels.

The other major contributor to the housing crunch, the city found, is off-campus student housing.

City officials anticipate 5,000 new units of on-campus student housing will help alleviate certain neighborhoods but they still want to see over 16,000 new units created at area universities in the very near future. Students that live in off campus housing units tend to drastically drive up rents in neighborhoods and overcrowd already dense areas.

"If the college campuses do it over a 20-year period, we're not going to see a benefit, but if they can fast-track it sooner, we will see an immediate benefit where those units are freed up in communities and turned back into family or individual housing," said Walsh.

Housing A Changing City: Boston 2030