Launched in 2024, the Gateway Cities Housing Monitor is the MassINC Policy Center’s annual deep dive into the housing trends shaping opportunity and growth across Massachusetts. By tracking the forces that influence affordability, stability, and supply, the Monitor provides policymakers, advocates, and community leaders with the insight they need to respond to the Commonwealth’s most pressing housing challenges.
To allow for deeper exploration of each theme, the 2025 Gateway Cities Housing Monitor will be released in a series of chapters. Each installment will highlight a different dimension of the housing landscape—from production and affordability to equitable development and revitalization. The series will culminate in a special analysis on homeownership, presented live at the 13th Annual Gateway Cities Innovation Summit in Lowell.
Elise Rapoza
Senior Research Associate, MassINC Policy Center
Ben Forman
Director, MassINC Policy Center
Abigail Wilkes
Policy Intern, MassINC Policy Center
2025 Gateway Cities Housing Monitor Chapters
Chapter 1: Housing Production and Supply
September 17, 2025
Chapter 2: Housing Affordability
September 24, 2025
Chapter 3: Conditions for Growth
October 1, 2025
Chapter 4: Neighborhood Revitalization
October 15, 2025
Chapter 5: Equitable Development
October 15, 2025
Special Analysis: Homeownership
October 28, 2025
By the Numbers: Homeownership
95
the number of homeownership deserts in Massachusetts
16x
the increased odds in homeownership deserts of living in a neighborhood with highly concentrated poverty
10,000
the number of new for-sale units needed to eliminate homeownership deserts
Massachusetts has 95 homeownership deserts—neighborhoods where fewer than one in five homes are owner-occupied. These areas are not only concentrated in Gateway Cities but also deeply connected to economic inequality: residents living in these neighborhoods are 16 times more likely to experience highly concentrated poverty than those elsewhere. Eliminating these deserts will require roughly 10,000 new for-sale units statewide, a challenge that underscores the urgent need to rebalance housing investments and create stronger pathways to ownership and wealth building in communities that need it most.
This map highlights Massachusetts’ Gateway Cities and their surrounding suburbs — the focus of the Housing Monitor series. These mid-sized cities are key to understanding the state’s housing trends, from production and affordability to revitalization and equitable growth.
About the Gateway Cities Housing Monitor
The inaugural report highlighted the growing pressure on renters, the slow pace of housing production, and the unique challenges facing older industrial communities. Building on that foundation, the 2025 Monitor tracks new data and emerging trends to help policymakers, practitioners, and community leaders chart a path forward.
2024 Gateway Cities Housing Monitor
November 14, 2024