The 2026 Greater Boston Housing Report Card marks a quarter century of our annual efforts to track housing supply, home prices and affordability in Greater Boston. While the general themes can feel familiar, each edition also captures the annual factors that are having an impact, for better or worse. This year, Boston Indicators notes several issues that are combining to slow the push for supply and affordability, while in the Special Topic section, researchers from the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University offer a possible path to improved affordability. Could the success of 'social housing' in Europe and elsewhere in the U.S. provide a way forward that protects access to affordable mixed-income housing in what is still one of the country's most expensive rental markets?
Key Findings
Population Change and Demand
Supply
Homeownership
Rental Housing
Homelessness and Housing Instability
State Policy Roundup
Introduction
The Emerging Social Housing Movement in the US
European Inspirations
Recent US Programs Inspired by the Social Housing Movement
Boston Case Studies
A Pathway Toward Social Housing in Greater Boston
Concluding Observations
Endnotes and References
Core Metrics
Peter Ciurczak, Boston Indicators
Amy Dain, Boston Indicators
Kimberly Goulart, Boston Indicators
Luc Schuster, Boston Indicators
The Growing US Social Housing Movement and Lessons for Greater Boston
Christopher Herbert, Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University
Susanne Schindler, Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University
Sandy Kendall, The Boston Foundation
Soni Gupta, The Boston Foundation
Mel Isidor, Isidor Studio
Friends,
Since 2002, the Boston Foundation has tracked housing data— population and demand, construction and supply, instability and homelessness, and more—reporting and analyzing findings in the annual Greater Boston Housing Report Card. Understanding that fair and sufficient housing is the bedrock of a thriving and equitable city, our aim has always been to quantify and record current circumstances, measure change, and, by shining a light on disparities and inequities, provide fact-based insights for readers to work with—be they policy makers, advocates, journalists, or concerned residents.
Much has changed since 2002. Unfortunately, one of those things is not affordability. Twenty years ago, the Housing Report Card description read: “Despite recent modest gains in housing supply and similarly modest declines in some market prices, Greater Boston remains at the top of the list among the most expensive urban areas in the country, a long-term problem that has caused middle class and young workers between the ages of 25 and 34 to leave the state in increasing numbers in recent years. As a result, housing continues to be the No. 1 economic development challenge for the Commonwealth.”
That could easily describe us today. As the Core Metrics section of this report shows, the Greater Boston area is the third most expensive of the major metros, behind only New York and San Francisco. Federal policy over the past two years has stalled our population growth. Immigration drove most of the region’s recent gains, and our research and academic institutions drew the world’s best minds to Boston for semesters and for careers alike. As those arrivals decline, rents have softened, but that is no cause for celebration: The same shrinking demand is quietly flattening the entire economy. These are uncertain, often capricious times. Yet Greater Boston has weathered change before, and its resilience, its inventiveness, and its willingness to learn from others are exactly what this moment requires.
In that spirit, the special topic of this year’s Report Card explores an approach to public- and nonprofit-supported housing development common in Europe and beginning to emerge in the United States, often called “social housing.” The authors identify the key principles of social housing—long-term or perpetual affordability, broad eligibility, and democratic governance of the building or community—and describe models in Europe, Maryland, and Seattle that have already put these into practice, whether or not they use the term social housing. Bringing it home, they point to developments in Boston where some of these social housing principles are already at play.
The Boston Foundation is proud to work at this junction of reality and possibility, keeping our eyes open to data that define the problems, and keeping minds open to creative means to address them. We hope you find this edition of the Greater Boston Housing Report Card informative and inspiring.
Brian Douglas
Interim President and CEO and Chief Financial Officer
The Boston Foundation
Economic uncertainty and federal policies both made 2026 a difficult year for the Greater Boston housing market. Pressures on the region's core industries and limits of immigration were compounded by a downtown in permitting and construction, keeping supply limited and costs high.
In this year's special topic, the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University examines the potential of Greater Boston's nascent interest in social housing to provide sustainable mixed-income rental housing that strengthens neighborhoods and protects affordability.