@amydain

Zoning, urban planning, housing, Main Streets, suburban retrofit, TOD, non-car mobility | Research and writing | Greater Boston

 Newton, MA
dainresearch.com/
Joined August 2010
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Reflecting on @BosIndicators' article, "The Surprising Lack of Good Permitting Data..." @amydain highlights the challenges we create for ourselves by not having good administrative systems in place for tracking building permit numbers at the local level. mapc.org/planning101/need-fo…

The Need for Detailed Data on our Existing Affordable Housing Stock

MAPC will soon be releasing its annual update on permitting activity throughout the Metro Mayors Coalition, part of the effort to track progress towards the production target of 185,000 net new units...

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Homebuilding is mission-central for home-short Massachusetts. Data on production plays hide and seek. What to do about it: bostonindicators.org/upzone_…

The Surprising Lack of Good Permitting Data and What to Do about It

Homes in the construction pipeline should be readily countable, unlike, for example, grains of sand in Salisbury Beach.

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What’s Next After MBTA Communities? bankerandtradesman.com/whats…

What’s Next After MBTA Communities?

If you follow housing policy, you know Amy Dain. The longtime freelance public policy researcher recently joined Boston Indicators to build on her research into the state’s housing production...

bankerandtradesman.com
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Latest Upzone Update bostonindicators.org/upzone_…

Upzone Update: How the Permit Process Broke Homebuilding

A web of required housing permits that vary from town to town serve to slow housing development across Massachusetts.

bostonindicators.org
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Amy Dain retweeted
MayorWu@MayorWu5 Mar 2025
To every one of my neighbors back in Boston, know this: You belong here. This is your home. Boston es tu hogar. Boston se lakay ou. 這是你的家. This is our city. We are the safest major city in the nation because we are safe for everyone. youtu.be/0i21cliuoXo

Mayor Michelle Wu's Opening Statement to the House Committee on Oversight

To every one of my neighbors back in Boston, know this: You belong ...

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Commentary: Mayor Michelle Wu is many things: Savvy politician, smart Harvard-trained lawyer, devoted mother. But the description @leung keeps coming back to is the Chinese phrase: Hen li hai, used to describe someone fierce, formidable, and fearless. trib.al/NbRRWgn

Don’t mess with Boston. In the lion’s den of Congress, Michelle Wu was formidable and fearless. -...

Mayor Wu has yet to officially launch her reelection campaign, but she couldn’t ask for a bigger stage to show why she deserves four more years.

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Screenshot of letter from MA EOHLC. Deadline now set at July 14 for MBTA Communities compliance with emergency regs, which were filed today.
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Join me at this event on zoning and design, at Northeastern. RSVP: bit.ly/zoningbydesign
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Congrats and thank you to the team at @MassAGO / @AJCampbellMA for this important win for housing. #mapoli commonwealthbeacon.org/court…

SJC says attorney general can enforce MBTA Communities Act, but state must rework regs

The state housing office must re-issue its MBTA Communities law guidelines, after the Supreme Judicial Court held that the attorney general can enforce the sweeping housing law as long as the...

commonwealthbeacon.org
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End-of-the-year Upzone Update. Thank you for reading along. Happy holidays! mbtacommunities.bostonindica…

End-of-year grab bag: Fair housing, implementation to-date, mixed-use development, and more!

Happy holidays to our readers! This is the final biweekly issue of the Upzone Update. In 2025, the newsletter will come out less frequently as we pivot toward more in-depth analysis. BY AMY DAIN Fair...

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In this week’s Upzone Update buff.ly/40Ajb9H, Amy Dain looks away from the headline-grabbing, national political news and praises the power of local government.
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Public housing news in Greater Boston: bostonglobe.com/2024/11/08/b…

In Chelsea, a new model for public housing opens its doors - The Boston Globe

A new apartment complex with upscale amenities may seem like a marker of gentrification. But this development will provide new homes for some of the city’s poorest residents.

bostonglobe.com
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Upzone Update… mbtacommunities.bostonindica…

Where local democracy offers hope for resilience

Upzone Update offers analysis of MBTA-C compliance efforts, produced by zoning expert Amy Dain and the staff of Boston Indicators. Scroll to the bottom for a listing of news coverage and upcoming...

mbtacommunities.bostonindicators.org
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Existing research finds that new housing construction is usually fiscally net positive. And even in the cases where it isn't, we should probably build the housing anyway :-) A summary of the research + my personal take in the latest Upzone Update: mbtacommunities.bostonindica…
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Argh. Ipswich voted 295-294 to postpone the vote on MBTA Communities zoning.
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"Sometimes towns need a bit of a nudge to do the right thing." - Elected Natick Town Meeting Member Natick Town Meeting approved it's MBTA Communities rezoning proposal 85-15-1.
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Just looking at some data representations, and remembering that all of those unrelenting 3Ks, month by month, are households, people.
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mhp.net/news/2024/housing-st…
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In this week’s Upzone Update, buff.ly/4dKicGE Amy Dain looks at a number of topics, including the power of small lot sizes, the appeal of single-staircase buildings, and the legal dispute over the MBTA Communities law between Milton and the Massachusetts attorney general.
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Latest Upzone Update: --Min lost sizes for MF (ditch 'em) --Single stair legalization for mid-sized MF (let's do it!) --Milton case (what it means) --News/analysis --Bonus: The strange tale of bottle cap lots @BosIndicators mbtacommunities.bostonindica…

Maximizing MBTA Communities by minimizing lot sizes

Upzone Update offers analysis of MBTA-C compliance efforts, produced by zoning expert Amy Dain and the staff of Boston Indicators. This week's article is by Amy Dain. This week: a closer look at...

mbtacommunities.bostonindicators.org
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...Minimum lot size... (not lost)
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