4. Encourage Innovation for Efficient Housing Units – With price per square foot so high, every reduction in total square-footage makes a significant difference in the total cost. This can be done through exploring projects such as the “Millennial Village,” which offers a wide variety of units marketed towards young professionals in their 20s and 30s while still allowing livability for all types of households. Design competitions for these projects was one suggestion.

Even building micro units would help alleviate the high cost of renting and homeownership, according to the report. The report states that a growing number of Millennials would rather live in a small unit alone, rather than a larger one with roommates.

However, while there is definite value in smaller, cheaper apartments, micro apartments have been tried before with no effect on rent. They simply kept pace with the rising rents, rather than offering an affordable alternative. Many avenues of housing need to be explored, but they all should have the goal of reducing square-foot costs, rather than just meeting the norm.

5. Facilitate Production of Modular Housing – Modular housing factories have attempted to set up in Massachusetts with little success. The advantage of mass-produced components that can be assembled on site is a vast reduction in construction time, reducing a one-year build to a few months, along with being cost effective to produce. At the same time, that advantage is offset by transportation costs from moving modular components in state, requiring a factory in Massachusetts to allow the state to benefit.

6. Create Labor Agreements for Affordable and Mixed-Income Housing – Agreements could be made between the government and organized labor forces – who have historically supported efforts to create more affordable housing – in order to cut down labor costs. Additionally, due to the short supply of subcontractors, there needs to be an effort to support minority- or women-owned subcontractors, which will reduce labor costs over time.

7. More Public Funds for Affordable Developments – All too often, projects become stuck in the pipeline due to a lack of funding. Developments typically wait two to three years before they are financed, which not only puts a stall on much needed affordable housing, but increases costs further. The report proposes increasing the amount of government funds available to finance affordable housing in order to more quickly address the growing needs of the Boston area.