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The Nova Residences in Quincy is a modular, multi-family building under construction in Quincy Center.
Business leaders on the South Shore think they can transform the region’s business community into housing advocates, and at the same time help their region snag a slice of the Boston area’s future economic growth.
Under a new strategy unveiled Tuesday, the South Shore Chamber hopes to educate business professionals on the South Shore about the benefits new housing construction can bring to communities, and encourage them to support transit-oriented developments in their communities.
“We have got to attract younger people to the South Shore market for economic growth,” chamber president Peter Forman told Banker & Tradesman. “The South Shore, through zoning, has for too long created the wrong type of housing – large-lot suburban developments.”
With many older Bay Staters looking to downsize to smaller, lower-maintenance properties and many younger professionals looking for similar housing, he said, South Shore communities need more multifamily development near Commuter Rail stops to meet demand. Otherwise, the area will continue to age faster than the rest of the Boston area, he said. A recent report from the South Shore Chamber stated households headed by people over 65 years old are projected to grow from 24 percent of the area’s total to 37 percent by 2030.
By attracting more young professionals with more abundant, less expensive housing, Forman said, the chamber hopes new companies will consider locating in South Shore communities to be near workers they want to hire. The median single-family sale price in Plymouth County in 2018 was $370,000, compared to $385,000 statewide, according to data from The Warren Group, publisher of Banker & Tradesman. The same figure for condominiums was $290,000 and $365,000, respectively.
Forman said he’s hoping to convince the chamber’s members and business owners throughout the South Shore to become active supporters of new housing, as they can be “neutral voices” who don’t have a direct financial stake in developments and who aren’t part of the housing industry.
“We’re engaged in pretty aggressive outreach to business professionals throughout the South Shore, to help them educate themselves about new housing and the region’s economic competitiveness, and we’re hoping that many of them will get involved when a project comes up in their towns,” he said. “We’re trying to debunk some of the negative myths about housing, and plan to do a lot more of that working with town officials that are concerned about what a proposed development might mean for their town, and help them understand the positives about bringing new housing to their towns.”
