Housing FAQs

We have the opportunity to create a diverse and vibrant future by allowing housing that matches the needs of people in a variety of life stages and economic situations.

An increased supply of homes, especially missing middle housing, will have a stabilizing effect on both rental and sale prices, which would be good news for households looking for market rate housing in Needham. New multifamily development also triggers our inclusionary zoning bylaw, generating income-restricted affordable housing.

We will work with the Select Board, the Planning Board, Town Meeting, housing developers, and non-profit housing organizations to create the conditions necessary to provide additional opportunities to build housing for low and moderate income households.

If we do nothing, Needham will continue to become even more unaffordable to all but those with significant financial means. Under our current zoning bylaws a sizeable portion of town is limited to single-family detached homes, so the most appealing thing for a developer to build on these lots is a large single-family home. Without zoning changes, we are likely to see this trend of oversized single-family homes continue and see Needham continue to lose both economic and generational diversity.

Additionally, much of the land around our transit corridors is not zoned to allow the walkable, multifamily, mixed-income housing that is essential to vital commercial centers. Without additional housing, there are fewer workers and customers living within walking distance of our businesses and restaurants.

There are many reasons that housing prices are rising so quickly. Demand for housing is increasing while supply has not kept up. Millennials, the largest generation, are in their prime home-buying years. At the same time, baby boomers are living longer and staying in their homes longer.

Meanwhile, Boston is booming. From 2010 to 2017, the Metropolitan Boston region added 245,000 new jobs, a 14%increase. Over the same period, only 71,600 housing units were permitted, a 5.2%increase. Increased competition for housing leads to low rental vacancy rates and low for-sale inventory. If you’ve tried to buy or rent a home in Needham recently, you are probably familiar with bidding wars and escalating prices.

Why is supply limited? It is hard to build more housing in this region. In Needham, there is not a lot of buildable land for new construction. Our zoning restricts multifamily housing to a very small percent of our buildable land and has required it go through an expensive special permit process. Consequently, most of our new construction is single-unit housing, with large houses replacing smaller homes. The result is that demand far outstrips supply, resulting in bidding wars. This problem exists in much of the Boston area.

Compact, walkable, mixed-use, transit-oriented development is environmentally beneficial—not only because it helps preserve open land, but because it uses existing infrastructure (e.g.., water and sewer) and is closer to jobs and transit. A new building with multiple households and ground-floor commercial space is a net carbon saver. We are fortunate that Needham has adopted the Climate Action Roadmap, which will result in a more sustainable Needham.

The more housing that is built, the more taxable property there is, and the lower everyone’s tax rate can be. Studies show that targeted change to allow for diverse forms of traditional housing and multifamily housing generates more property revenue per acre than single-family homes. It is highly likely that such development would be a net fiscal positive for Needham.

Studies have shown that new housing, even multifamily housing, does not lead to significant increases in the number of schoolchildren. In fact, multifamily housing brings fewer kids than detached single-family housing—just .06 students/unit, or 1/15th of the students/unit in one-family housing.

The number of new school-aged children in multifamily housing depends on the mix and size of the apartments (families tend to prefer 2- or 3-bedroom units), the number of children who moved from housing in Needham and are already in the Needham Public School system, private school enrollments, whether there are building amenities that are attractive to families with children, and the cost of market rate units.

Any children attending NPS will be spread throughout all 14 grades. Based on the best available information, additional students can be accommodated within the School Committee’s preferred master plan scenarios. 

As we diversify our housing stock, we can look forward to integrated schools, which have tremendous benefits for all kids, and avoid the unequal outcomes caused in part by exclusionary zoning.

While many of us may think of gentrification as a problem only for “urban” communities, gentrification refers to displacing people from their homes due to market changes that increase housing costs. This is happening here in Needham. Drastic price increases mean that people who may be renting in Needham , or those who could formerly afford to buy in Needham, including those who grew up here, are priced out and forced to move elsewhere. More housing supply will stabilize or lower housing costs and could alleviate pressure in other areas of Greater Boston facing gentrification.

Creating many types of new housing will strengthen our community. Building multifamily housing can support seniors looking to downsize and age in their community, and young people starting out on their own. And for homeowners, recent passage of Accessory Dwelling Unit laws provide options to help them stay in their homes, while also providing rental housing for small households. Research from the Yale Law Clinic has shown such proposals can help to keep people in their homes.

Zoning reform also seeks to improve options for people who have not always felt welcome in suburban communities and have suffered the most from the effects of discrimination. It is important to acknowledge historical reasons that communities face or fear displacement. Decades of discriminatory practices—along with federal and state actions—have excluded residents of color from becoming homeowners and offered inequitable housing options in only a few concentrated areas. Zoning reform is only one piece of the puzzle, but it is a critical first step.

Using already-developed land for more housing, instead of adding new sprawling suburban development, is one of the best ways to preserve trees and open space. Building in already developed areas minimizes the amount of land that needs to be cleared and paved because no new streets, sidewalks, sewers, water lines, or stormwater systems have to be built—they are all there. Multifamily zoning reform in Needham will enable more housing in existing multifamily residential and non-residential areas, enhance density instead of suburban sprawl to provide healthier walkable communities to support our mixed-use commercial areas and make our civic open spaces and shopping streetscapes more vibrant.

Affordable housing usually means housing that is affordable to low-income households with income at or below 80% of area median income (AMI), though sometimes the income level is lower, like for the Needham Housing Authority residents, or up to 120% of AMI (in the greater Boston area). “Affordable” means the rent is subsidized and renters pay no more than 30% of their income for housing related costs (rent or mortgage and taxes, and utilities). These guidelines originate with the US Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The Needham Housing Authority (NHA) operates over 336 units of affordable housing for seniors and families, including the administration of voucher programs. The NHA is embarking on a multi-year Preservation and Redevelopment Initiative to upgrade managed units and add approximately 95 additional affordable units. 

Needham’s multifamily residence zoning requires that, for buildings with six units or more, 12.5% of the units be affordable at 80% of AMI.

In order to add more affordable housing in Needham, property owners, town government, and residents must find properties, developers, and financing to build affordable housing. It is common for a municipality to make a financial contribution to project development. Often funds come from the Community Preservation Act or from an Affordable Housing Trust Fund. It is critically important that we allocate money and energy into fully utilizing our Affordable Housing Trust Fund to build more income-restricted affordable housing in Needham.

Affordable Housing with income and price restrictions is vitally important, but serves only a fraction of households. Housing is also needed for middle income households, which is not being built in Greater Boston. Adding to the supply regionally is our only hope of stabilizing prices for everyone, including our teachers and other Town employees. Each community can and should do its part to help alleviate the housing shortage in Greater Boston.

We have the opportunity to create the diverse and vibrant future that we envision for ourselves, by allowing housing that matches the needs of people at a variety of life stages and in a variety of economic situations. Help us seize the opportunity.