How Housing Scarcity is Costing Massachusetts Political Power

Thursday, September 24 at 7:00

Hybrid Event: Congregation Dorshei Tzedek

60 Highland St., West Newton and on Zoom

Since 1970, our state has gone from 12 to 9 House seats, resulting in less representation in Congress and a reduced voice in the Electoral College. And we’ll likely lose another in the 2030 census. Why are people leaving Massachusetts? Among many reasons, housing availability is the most significant.

BU Professor Maxwell Palmer will connect the dots between local housing policy, demographic shifts, and national politics. If you’re unhappy with the current direction of national politics, housing reform is a way to take concrete, meaningful action locally.

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Maxwell Palmer is an Associate Professor at Boston University. He currently serves as a Faculty Fellow at the Initiative on Cities and a co-principal investigator for the Menino Survey of Mayors. His work explores how institutional arrangements impact representation and policy outcomes, particularly concerning housing development, voting rights, and redistricting.

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