State and federal officials and local leaders at the Charles River Chamber meeting in Newton on Monday emphasized accelerating housing production to ease rising costs and workforce shortages.

According to U.S. Rep. Jake Auchincloss, Massachusetts is short roughly 250,000 housing units over the next decade, a gap he and others said the state must address with both local zoning changes and more aggressive state action. "The single biggest economic challenge facing the commonwealth has been and is the high cost of housing," Auchincloss said.

Governor Maura Healey described a $5,200,000,000 housing bill her administration helped write and the administration's focus on expanding supply through tools such as accessory dwelling units, tax credits and low- or no‑interest loans. "With that legislation, one of the things we did... ADUs are coming online. This is gonna be a quick way to bring more units online," Healey said, noting the state’s Momentum Fund and tax credits that have increased housing pipelines in some cities.

Both speakers highlighted the MBTA Communities Law and local compliance as part of the strategy to add housing near transit. Healey noted Newton’s MBTA Communities plan is fully compliant and that Wellesley and other towns have moved into compliance; she said nearly 4,000 new homes are already in development in communities that have passed new zoning. Auchincloss said the state should also use brownfield and surplus state properties and consider measures including changing Chapter 40B rules as a "nuclear option" to galvanize local action.

Speakers acknowledged political resistance at the local level: meeting attendees raised examples of councilors and select board members who lost campaigns after supporting more housing, and the congressman and governor urged business leaders to engage publicly in local planning debates. "When you have local meetings where this stuff is being discussed, this is your opportunity," Healey said.

State policy tools named at the meeting included:
- $5.2 billion state housing package (program details: tax credits, HDIP incentives, Momentum Fund loans)
- MBTA Communities zoning compliance and local plans for missing-middle housing and ADUs
- Use of state-owned surplus and brownfield sites for housing development
- Expansion of no-interest/low-interest loans to affordable housing developers

The meeting included appeals to business and residents to participate in local hearings and to support zoning changes that allow more housing near transit and in town centers. Auchincloss said building more housing and lowering parking minimums were among the concrete changes that would lower costs; Healey pointed to state investments already in place and to the need for continued local-state partnership.

Looking ahead, both officials said further state and federal actions will be needed to meet the estimated shortfall. Officials repeatedly asked chamber members and local leaders to engage in municipal zoning and planning processes to accelerate projects already in pipeline.