South Shore 2030

  • The Plan
  • Housing
    • Overview
    • The Business Case for Housing
    • Housing Endorsements
    • Housing Endorsement Form
    • Series: Housing on the South Shore
  • Infrastructure
    • Overview
    • Transportation
    • Water & Wastewater
  • News Center
    • The 2030 Blog
    • Virtual Events & Videos
    • Informational Reports
  • Our Region
    • About the South Shore
    • Demographics
    • Workforce Statistics
    • Essential Industries
    • Job Board
  • Partner With Us
    • Invest in Your Region
    • Why Invest
    • 2030 Funders
  • About Us
    • Why?
    • SSEDC Trustees
    • Our Team
    • Working Committees
    • Contact Us
  • Sister Sites
    • South Shore Chamber
    • Hello! South Shore
    • EAT South Shore
  • The Plan
  • Housing
    • Overview
    • The Business Case for Housing
    • Housing Endorsements
    • Housing Endorsement Form
    • Series: Housing on the South Shore
  • Infrastructure
    • Overview
    • Transportation
    • Water & Wastewater
  • News Center
    • The 2030 Blog
    • Virtual Events & Videos
    • Informational Reports
  • Our Region
    • About the South Shore
    • Demographics
    • Workforce Statistics
    • Essential Industries
    • Job Board
  • Partner With Us
    • Invest in Your Region
    • Why Invest
    • 2030 Funders
  • About Us
    • Why?
    • SSEDC Trustees
    • Our Team
    • Working Committees
    • Contact Us
  • Sister Sites
    • South Shore Chamber
    • Hello! South Shore
    • EAT South Shore

The 2030 Blog

Business Calls For Change In South Shore Housing Policy

9/22/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
Business leaders on the South Shore are starting to wage war on the big-lot zoning that’s so common in many of their towns.
The South Shore Chamber of Commerce Thursday issued a housing agenda aimed at building dense housing at or near train stations and ferry docks, retail centers, even underused office parks.

Chamber chief executive Peter Forman tells me the organization needs to expand beyond its typical bread-and-butter work of hosting events and promoting commercial development. Getting more housing, particularly in walkable neighborhoods, is crucial to recruiting younger workers and keeping talented longtime residents around. Towns will suffer, Forman says, if they cling to the old way of doing business: the one-acre homes and the resistance to multifamily projects, particularly those that mean more kids.

For Rockland Trust chief executive Chris Oddleifson, who is helping lead the chamber’s effort, the problem hit home last year when his bank (which sponsors this newsletter) was recruiting an executive from Texas for a key position who ended up walking away from the offer. The reason? The high cost of housing in the area.

The chamber can’t change zoning rules, of course, and it’s not a housing developer. But the organization can champion policies at the State House, and individual projects back home. It’s one of the state’s biggest business groups. Its leaders have a loud voice, a voice they’re not afraid to use.


​Jon Chesto can be reached at jon.chesto@globe.com and on Twitter @jonchesto.

By Jon Chesto, The Boston Globe
Published on September 21, 2017
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    March 2023
    September 2022
    August 2022
    April 2022
    January 2021
    October 2020
    September 2020
    March 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    October 2018
    June 2018
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    February 2016
    January 2016

    Categories

    All
    Banking
    Economic Development
    Editorial
    Education
    Hanover
    Hello South Shore
    Housing
    Infrastructure
    Norwell
    Plymouth
    Real Estate
    REDO
    Retail Development
    South Shore 2030
    South Shore Chamber
    The Landing
    Transportation
    Zoning

    RSS Feed

South Shore Economic Development Corporation
1050 Hingham Street, Rockland MA 02370
Phone: 781.421.3900 | info@southshorechamber.org | sitemap
Photo Disclaimer: Photos found on website may be subject to copyright. Permission to use images was provided by development teams for use on website. Other photos were taken by staff.
Picture