The National Zoning Atlas’s map of Eastern Massachusetts showing which cities and towns severely restrict multiunit residential buildings vividly illustrates the challenge facing our state government (“No place to go: If you wonder why Massachusetts has a housing shortage, start here,” Business, July 22). Despite Chapter 40B and the more recent MBTA Communities law, our state laws still overwhelmingly favor local control.
If Massachusetts is serious about making housing affordable, the laws regulating zoning must be rewritten to permit greater density and multiunit development by right. Of course, this will generate a firestorm (just ask Milton). But we might as well get past all the craziness because the implication of doing nothing is all too clear: the increasing outmigration of our most precious resource — families and young people who bring talent, vitality, and tax dollars to our state.
Robert Littlefield
Provincetown
The writer is a past member of the Provincetown Zoning Board of Appeals and participated in what was then the largest Chapter 40B project to date.