Press | Citizens' Housing And Planning Association

Please reach out to Director of Communications & Events, Jenna Connolly, with any press inquiries or interview requests.

Priced Out: The fight for housing in Massachusetts

GBH, Jun 07, 2022

“Communities that have been traditionally and historically more affordable and are largely communities of color, these are the communities where the pressures are even more significant right now,” said Rachel Heller, CEO of Citizens’ Housing and Planning Association.

‘Just one paycheck away.’ Report finds 163,000 low-income Mass. families need affordable housing.

The Boston Globe, Apr 22, 2022

The high cost of housing, relative to income, “leaves families little for household essentials, food, health, and child care,” said Eric Shupin, the director of public policy at Citizens’ Housing & Planning Association, an affordable housing advocacy group. “These families across the state are just one paycheck away or one emergency away from becoming homeless.”

Rents in Cambridge and some other Mass. cities increased 30% in the past year

GBH, Apr 04, 2022

“The report puts numbers to what everyone has been feeling,” said Rachel Heller, chief executive officer of the Citizens’ Housing and Planning Association. “Rent and home prices are rising far faster than incomes, and people across income levels are struggling.”

Op-Ed: How We Can Invest Today in a Better Tomorrow for Massachusetts

Banker & Tradesman, Mar 27, 2022

When we provide the critical resources to meet people’s housing needs, we improve lives and stabilize communities. It’s time we put the lessons learned over the last two years into practice and ensure we are building homes that are affordable at different price points and that at least 10 percent of those 200,000 new homes will be affordable to people with the lowest incomes.

Report: Homes out-earned people in metro Boston last year

Boston.com, Mar 25, 2022

“We know what we need to do,” Heller said. “This is solvable. And it really takes every community in Massachusetts saying yes to having more of the homes we need.”

State adopts new zoning rules to encourage more housing construction near public transportation

Boston 25 News, Mar 24, 2022

Rachel Heller, chief executive officer of Citizens' Housing and Planning Association, applauds the new regulations. “We can’t grow if people don’t live near their jobs, near their networks, near their families, near their doctor, near their schools.”

Letter to the Editor: Will Mass. Legislature Meet the Moment?

Banker & Tradesman, Mar 07, 2022

Will we look back in 20 years and regret that we didn’t meet this historic moment with a broad range of bold policy solutions? Or will we lead ourselves to a thriving tomorrow by investing more in the place we all love and call home?

New MBTA Communities Zoning Law Makes it Easier to Create the Homes the Commonwealth’s Residents Need

Boston Bar Journal, Feb 18, 2022

As home prices and rents continue to rise at rates that far outpace incomes, particularly for people with low wages, Massachusetts has put a new law on the books to support the goal of producing the 200,000 homes needed to meet the Commonwealth’s housing demand.

Boston rent prices could soon surpass San Francisco's as second-most expensive in U.S.

Boston Herald, Jan 25, 2022

"It doesn't mean that producing more homes will result in drops in rent," Rachel Heller, CHAPA's CEO, said. "We also need to put our resources into affordable housing so that while we're growing the overall number of homes, we're also increasing the number of homes that are affordable."

175 ‘MBTA Communities’ will have to start increasing multi-family zoning this year

Boston Herald, Jan 08, 2022

“There’s going to be so much more zoning capacity for new homes in Massachusetts, which we really think is going to help people be able to live in the community of their choice,” said Eric Shupin of the Citizens’ Housing and Planning Association.