New England Public Policy Center Policy Brief No. 07-1
by Alicia Sasser

Full-text paper

This policy brief investigates one element of the Center’s 2006 Working Paper: The Lack of Affordable Housing in New England: How Big a Problem? Why Is It Growing? What Are We Doing About It?  Although rental housing in New England is expensive relative to the rest of the nation, the region’s incomes are high enough that this housing is affordable to most New Englanders. This is in stark contrast owner-occupied housing, which is often unaffordable to the region’s residents. This is primarily because rents in New England have not risen as rapidly as house prices over the past decade. .