Housing costs, affordability, are driving political ire

A new poll from Umass Lowell’s Center for Public Opinion that shows Attorney General Maura Healey running away with the governor’s race shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone.

Stating the obvious, John Cluverius, associate professor and associate director of the center, said, “this election isn’t over, but Democrats have the high ground.”

The poll had Healey leading her now-former Democratic primary opponent state Sen. Sonia Chang-diaz by a wide margin — ahead of either potential Republican candidate by at least 28 percentage points.

Healey leads former state Rep. Geoff Diehl, who is the party nominee and former President Donald Trump’s pick for the office, 61% to 30%, with 9% undecided or supporting another candidate, while the attorney general leads Wrentham businessman Chris Doughty by a slightly lower margin, 58% to 30%.

The poll also took note of voters’ overall displeasure with the current state of our economy and political impotence.

Professor Joshua Dyck, center director, said the poll shows a large number of respondents are feeling “real economic distress.”

According to the poll, nearly 29% of respondents had difficulty making ends meet in May. That number was higher, 58%, for those who made less than $50,000 annually.

The survey also showed that most respondents don’t believe the explanation from politicians that supply chains and a war in Ukraine caused the soaring inflation, and instead blame the politicians themselves, with only 17% trusting the federal government to do what is right “all the time.”

While inflation and Washington’s inability to solve it are national concerns, Massachusetts’ equally out- of- control housing costs have spiked our residents’ frustrations.

A study released this week by Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies puts an exclamation point on that affordability crisis.

It concluded you’d need an $181,000 income to buy a typical single-family home — a median-priced house valued at $659,161 — in Greater Boston.

Harvard’s estimates assume a down payment of 3.5% on a 30-year fixed rate mortgage, with buyers spending no more than 31% of their income on mortgage payments.

At $181,254, Harvard’s estimate for Greater Boston nearly doubles the region’s median household income of $93,537.

Nationally, home prices jumped 20.6% as of March — the highest increase in 30 years. In Greater Boston, prices are up 15.9%.

This might be seem an extreme example, since home prices elsewhere in the state, especially beyond Interstate 495, don’t rise to Greater Boston’s level.

But that affordability gap doesn’t really close; it remains relative to the demographics of the community in question.

According to the 2020 Census, the median household income in Massachusetts was $84,385.

However in Lowell, that figure drops to $62,196.

Realtor.com’s latest data peg the median listing price for a home in Lowell at $400,000.

Extrapolating that Harvard study’s formula, you’d need an income of roughly $108,000 to purchase that median-priced Lowell home.

Income figures have probably risen since the 2020 Census, and that Harvard formula assumes a first-time buyer with no equity in an existing home.

But that still paints a dismal picture for families trying to breaking into the housing market.

Healey will inherit this affordability crisis when she takes over the corner office next year.

Outgoing Gov. Charlie Baker has tried his best to break through that barrier to home ownership by backing a law passed by the Legislature that requires only a simple majority for communities to pass or revise zoning bylaws.

There’s also a proposal in place that would require the 175 municipalities served by the MBTA to set aside certain areas for multifamily housing.

Due to some communities’ resistance, that policy has yet to be finalized.

Healey also recently showed support for the efforts of Baker and others to create more affordable housing, which she’ll probably delve into in more detail on the campaign trail.

In the meantime, this state of housing haves and havenots will continue to stir residents’ angst and ire.