Boston Mayor Marty Walsh says Boston needs 53,000 new housing units by 2030.
Credit: Nicolaus Czarnecki, Metro file photo
Mayor Marty Walsh unveiled a long-term housing plan for Boston this afternoon that proposes 53,000 housing units be built by 2030.
Walsh says the units will be needed to house the estimated 91,000 additional Bostonians who live in the city by that time, which will bring the city’s population over the 700,000 mark for the first time since the 1950s.
Walsh has also proposed more on-campus housing for the city college student population. He is calling for 16,000 new dorm beds in the city, which he says would free up about 5,000 units of middle income housing. Such a change would reduce the number of student renting off-campus by half, according to his office. It would also “significantly relieve pressure on the rental housing market in several neighborhoods,” he said.
The plan calls for 44,000 of the units to be built for the workforce, 5,000 to be built for seniors, and 4,000 units must be created to stabilize the market and brings and housing prices under control, according to Walsh.
By 2030, one in five Boston households will be of retirement age, which represents a 53 percent increase.
