Jesse Kanson-Benanav
@jessekb.bsky.social
Saying yes to homes for all across the Commonwealth of Massachusetts as Executive director of @abundanthousingma.org | http://linkedin.com/in/jesse-kb
🎉 Housing Abundance Symposium! Join advocates from across Massachusetts for a day of workshops, a keynote conversation with @jamellebouie.net, and our Celebration of Abundance Luncheon. 🆓 Free to attend. ⚠️ Space is limited—register today! www.abundanthousingma.org/housing-abun...
⏰ Tomorrow is the last day of June—and the last day of our Triple Decker Challenge! We're just **$400 away** from our $10,000 goal. Every gift helps us advocate for more homes across Massachusetts. Help us cross the finish line: abundanthousingma.org/donate/?onet...
The Boston City Council had a great hearing yesterday on a proposal to eliminate parking minimums. The opposition was so disingenuous: eliminating parking minimums would not take away community input; it makes parking responsive to specific projects, not a blanket mandate.
There shouldn't be any parking minimums in Boston. Maybe, a small driveway in outer neighborhoods at most. The market would probably command that spaces exist in the furthest out neighborhoods. You don't need to mandate it.
Jonathan Berk 🏠@berkie1.bsky.social · 2mo agoA 2025 @massincpolling.bsky.social / @abundanthousingma.org poll found that 70% of Boston residents support more flexibility in parking requirements to facilitate more housing production.
A 2025 @massincpolling.bsky.social / @abundanthousingma.org poll found that 70% of Boston residents support more flexibility in parking requirements to facilitate more housing production.
The fact that it requires a single variance - let alone 9 of them - to build a three-decker in Boston is unconscionable and is one of the reasons why we face such an extreme housing shortage. The Boston everyone knows and loves is effectively illegal today.
Universal Hub@universalhub.com · 2mo agoGlory be: New three-decker wins approval www.universalhub.com/2026/glory-b... #Boston #Dorchester #TripleDeckers
This single family home in my neighborhood sold for $1.1M in late 2023. It’s had a thorough rehab, and is now being marketed as… a $3.63M single family home. Please tell me exactly how that is a better outcome than anything that the new base zoning allows, Cathy Zusy. redf.in/j0vMjR
21 Cottage Park Ave, Cambridge, MA 02140 - 5 beds/4.5 baths
(MLS PIN) For Sale: 5 beds, 4.5 baths ∙ 4087 sq. ft. ∙ 21 Cottage Park Ave, Cambridge, MA 02140 ∙ $3,628,900 ∙ MLS# 73528101 ∙ Striking new luxury single family on a quiet, tree-lined North Cambridge ...
redf.in
Accessory dwelling units are legal in Massachusetts, but state law has set an unnecessarily restrictive limit on the size of these units, as we explain in our report, “ADUs Turn One: Regulatory Barriers to Production in Massachusetts and Ideas for Further Reform.” buff.ly/fhAxkFD
Boston City Councilor Sharon Durkan goes 'On the Record' about her proposal to eliminate off-street parking requirements for new housing. Watch the full conversation here: https://www.wcvb.com/article/boston-city-councilor-sharon-durkan-goes-on-the-record-about-budget-council-pay/71444404
Sending good vibes from Boston to LA. We need leaders nationally like Nithya and Zohran who will promote a progressive vision for housing abundance and affordability. Sets an important example for those of us in other high cost, low home building cities that have not yet embraced that vision.
Nithya Raman@nithyaforthecity.bsky.social · 2mo agoAngelenos are being priced out of the neighborhoods they love. Housing is too scarce, too expensive, and City Hall moves too slow. My plan cuts through the red tape to fast-track housing, lower costs, and make it possible for families to stay and thrive in LA.
LA don't mess this up. Make sure Nithya makes the runoff. Other high list, low home building cities need the example. More Zohran Mamdanis and Katie Wilsons, fewer Karen Basses.
Poll Tracker 📊@polltracker.bsky.social · 2mo agoLos Angeles mayor primary (Berkeley IGS poll) 🟦 Karen Bass 26% 🟦 Nithya Raman 25% 🟥 Spencer Pratt 22% 🟦 Rae Chen Huang 9% www.latimes.com/california/s...
I'm honestly surprised about the high percentage of same-sex couples living at Logan Airport
✶ ✶ ✶ ✶@chiurbanist.bsky.social · 2mo agoSame-sex married couple and same-sex unmarried partner households in Boston
As much as I believe we need more competitive elections in Mass., the mess that is the California gubernatorial election this year makes me skeptical about the jungle primary ballot question that will likely be on the ballot here in November.
Ned Resnikoff@resnikoff.bsky.social · 2mo agoThe problem with this view is that California's kludgy jungle primary system does such a poor job of aggregating voter preferences on its own that it all but forces you to vote strategically www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/arti...
“There is a larger principle here. States should not outsource their housing policy to local governments that tend to have a bias toward the status quo. States should assert more control over lot sizes, multifamily zoning, permitting processes and more.” Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2026/05/30/o...
Opinion | How to Stop the Affluent from Rigging the Housing Market
nytimes.com
Save the date! I will be helping host a World Cup watch part at The Jeanie Johnston in Jamaica Plain on Friday 6/26 for both the 3pm and 8pm games. More details to come soon.
If Austin's upzoning helps inspire something similar in New York, all those years testifying at City Hall will have been even more valuable.
Sam@samd.bsky.social · 2mo agoZohran just cited Minneapolis, Austin, and Auckland as cities that lowered housing costs via upzoning certified ball knowledge, Auckland is a deep YIMBY cut
Civic leadership is know that, no matter how unique your city is, it can still learn from others. Broad upzoning in Austin, Auckland, & Mpls led to more homes built + stabilized & even reduced housing costs. NYC & Boston can both learn from these examples. NYC is on that path. Will Boston follow?
Sam@samd.bsky.social · 2mo agoZohran just cited Minneapolis, Austin, and Auckland as cities that lowered housing costs via upzoning certified ball knowledge, Auckland is a deep YIMBY cut
Zohran just cited Minneapolis, Austin, and Auckland as cities that lowered housing costs via upzoning certified ball knowledge, Auckland is a deep YIMBY cut
Cambridge City Councilor Cathie Zusy is trying to organize a counter-lobby day to @abundanthousingma.org's Lobby Day tomorrow. Remember this when she and other anti-housing forces say Cambridge can't solve the state's housing crisis...they don't want ANY housing built ANYWHERE in Massachusetts!
It is simply dishonest for anyone in Boston to claim that "macroeconomic conditions" are solely to blame for our construction slowdown. NYC has the same high interest rates, land & labor costs as Boston. The difference is policy reforms under city's power to accelerate housing production citywide.
Stephen Jacob Smith@stephenjacobsmith.com · 2mo agoLooks like Eric Adams really delivered on housing production with City of Yes newyorkyimby.com/2026/05/new-...
We could do this in Boston...it would just take leadership that is committed to ending our housing crisis.
Stephen Jacob Smith@stephenjacobsmith.com · 2mo agoMayor Mamdani has announced the Affordable & Efficient Code Reform task force, to convene later this year. The housing plan says that among other things, elevator and plumbing reform will be considered. www.nyc.gov/content/dam/... (pgs. 98-99)
Cambridge City Councilor Cathie Zusy is trying to organize a counter-lobby day to @abundanthousingma.org's Lobby Day tomorrow. Remember this when she and other anti-housing forces say Cambridge can't solve the state's housing crisis...they don't want ANY housing built ANYWHERE in Massachusetts!
We could do this in Boston...it would just take leadership that is committed to ending our housing crisis. therealdeal.com/new-york/202...
Mamdani to further streamline ADU building and permitting
Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced changes for Landmarks Preservation Commission and Buildings Department as part of his major housing plan.
therealdeal.com
Jesse Kanson-Benanav@jessekb.bsky.social · 2mo agoWe could do this in Boston...it would just take leadership that is committed to ending our housing crisis. www.politico.com/news/2026/05...
We could do this in Boston...it would just take leadership that is committed to ending our housing crisis. www.politico.com/news/2026/05...
Mamdani targets housing holdouts
The city will explore land use changes in areas with the lowest rates of affordable housing production.
politico.com
David Modica whose viral Marblehead Town Meeting remarks sparked a national conversation is joining AHMA's Lobby Day on May 27th at the Massachusetts State House alongside @kimdriscollma.bsky.social , @andyvargas.bsky.social and Sen. Brendan Crighton. 🔗:https://www.abundanthousingma.org/lobby-day/
The first Black woman to be mayor in MA. The man who built TransitMatters. The leader of the MA housing movement since the very beginning. Honored to have Denise, @jarjoh.bsky.social, and @jessekb.bsky.social in this fight.
This is happening across the state and particularly in the Greater Boston Area. Lexington is cutting teachers, Malden failed to pass a tax override, and Beverly is talking about $1000 fees for school hockey. What do these cities all have in common? ⬇️ Reposted bc Malden != Medford
Jesse Kanson-Benanav@jessekb.bsky.social · 4mo agoKnow what allows cities in MA to raise tax basis above the Prop 2.5 limit w/o an override vote? New MF housing development. Know what is proven to stabilize & even decrease rents? New MF housing development Know what we have virtually zero of these days in Boston? New MF housing development.
Know what allows cities in MA to raise tax basis above the Prop 2.5 limit w/o an override vote? New MF housing development. Know what is proven to stabilize & even decrease rents? New MF housing development Know what we have virtually zero of these days in Boston? New MF housing development.
The Boston Globe@bostonglobe.com · 4mo agoThe city of Boston is facing a nearly $50 million budget deficit to close the fiscal year that ends in June, a balance the city may have to cover by dipping into its reserve funds, officials said.
