Last week you heard from the Governor’s Chief of Staff, Ann O’Leary, about our proposed budget and, with it, our priorities for the year. At the top of that list is the housing crisis and the most urgent face of that crisis, the stark and tragic rise in homelessness.

Today, we’re going to start there, by taking a closer look at the housing and homeless situation. First up, a conversation I had the Governor’s Chief Economic and Business Advisor, Lenny Mendonca, and the Governor’s Senior Advisor on Social Innovation, Kathleen Kelly Janus who have been leading our efforts to partner with the business community. And then we’ll hear from Rebecca Foster, who – I promise you – will give you the best if not one of the best, data-driven, impact-oriented explanations of the housing crisis that you have ever heard.

This issue is an everything issue, meaning it involves a lot of things at once. We need more housing supply, with more zoning for density. We need a lower cost way to build housing, with quicker permit times, so that we can make the housing we’re building more affordable. We need the average worker to earn better wages so they can more easily afford the housing that’s on the market. Ultimately, each of us, in each of our communities across the state, as you’ll hear at the end of this episode from Rebecca, needs to do some soul-searching to understand what we’re willing to give up in order to help this state we love deal with its most urgent crisis.