Bay Staters “need to remember that zoning and zoning laws are provided to municipalities from the state,” said Rep. Andy Vargas. So, he said, “if we’re not building housing, it’s time for the state to relook at how we can take up that responsibility more aggressively.” 

Rikleen, a former history teacher and fantasy sports writer making his first run for public office, launched his longshot Senate bid a year ago with calls for Democrats to more aggressively confront President Donald Trump and pursue sweeping reforms to the country’s political institutions. 

On the monthly Health or Consequences episode of The Codcast, John McDonough of the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health and Paul Hattis of the Lown Institute talk with Vicki Poulos, a senior health law attorney at the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute. They discuss discuss the massive 2025 federal tax-and-spend law and its consequences for MassHealth and the Connector, what the state can do to limit coverage losses, and immigrant insurance eligibility cuts.

The report argues the permitting gap doesn’t reflect a lack of homeowner interest, but rather a regulatory system that was never designed to handle an influx of development of the small housing units across 351 cities and towns with their own set of permitting rules.