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TPS TOSSED: The US Supreme Court ruled that the Trump administration can revoke Temporary Protected Status without judicial review. Massachusetts officials warned the rollback of protections of Haitian and Syrian TPS holders would rip at the state’s health care workforce and separate families who have spent years building lives in the Commonwealth. Jennifer Smith has more. |
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CONSTITUTIONAL TRIPWIRES: Three ballot measures are dead because they ran afoul of Article 48 — the part of the state Constitution that governs the ballot question process. A bad summary, a forbidden subject, and an improper attempt to direct the Legislature kept them from voters. Jennifer Smith breaks it down. |
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CANNABIS FIGHT: Cannabis entrepreneurs, municipal leaders, and health experts joined forces Thursday to launch a campaign against the ballot measure to repeal legalized recreational marijuana, comparing their push to the American Revolution. Alison Kuznitz of the State House News Service has the details. |
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OPINION: Massachusetts is lagging behind 45 states that have enacted legislation criminalizing AI-generated child pornography, writes Mary Pulido, executive director of World Childhood Foundation USA. |
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OPINION: Criminalizing AI-generated deepfake sexual imagery, including specific legislation targeting images of children, is vital, but our schools also need to develop clear protocols for the steps to take after a student has been the subject of such abuse, writes Muhammad Irfan, a deepfake forensics and cybersecurity researcher and lecturer in computer science at Wentworth Institute of Technology. |
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Struggles abound for homeowners in Gateway Cities, including cost burdens and tough market competition, yet overall satisfaction remains high, according to a new survey of 850 Massachusetts homeowners. |
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Respondents both in and outside of Gateway Cities largely reported that they were satisfied with being homeowners. But cost pressures were more pronounced in Gateway Cities as housing affordability remains the single biggest financial pressure point for Massachusetts residents, highlighting a clash between how people feel about homeownership and what it means for their finances. |
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Those who own homes in the state’s 26 post-industrial era cities were more likely to skip urgent home repairs due to cost, be at risk of foreclosure, buy in neighborhoods that were not their first choice, and say that homeownership has hurt their financial stability. The poll was conducted by the MassINC Polling Group, which is part of the same organization that publishes CommonWealth Beacon. |
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“Where we see a lot of struggle for Gateway City homeowners is less around the buying of the home, though that is present, and more around preserving the home,” said Courtney Brunson, director of economic equity initiatives at The Boston Foundation. “That's where there are issues across the board, but it's disproportionately higher for non-white, lower-income folks living in Gateway Cities.” |
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“Even though they may have lower home prices overall, it is still incredibly expensive and out of reach for the people who are trying to purchase within Gateway Cities,” she added. |
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Over the last decade, the homeownership rate for residents who live in Gateway Cities has hovered around 50 percent, according to the MassINC Policy Center’s 2025 Gateway Cities Housing Monitor. The statewide rate has also been flat at around 63 percent. |
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Less than half of all Gateway City residents own their homes, and the number of rental units is increasing faster than ownership units. From 2013 to 2023, growth in renter-occupied housing in Gateway Cities outpaced growth in owner-occupied housing by 4,200 units. Some Gateway Cities have been described as “ownership deserts” — places where renting is common and opportunities for homeownership are scarce. |
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Half of respondents in the Gateway Cities said competition with other buyers was a barrier they faced while purchasing their home while 37 percent of those outside the Gateway Cities said the same. |
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Although homeownership rates for people of color are rising in the Gateway Cities, white residents continue to make up a large majority of owners. Black and Hispanic households have homeownership rates that are 23 percentage points and 32 percentage points lower than white households respectively. |
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While a majority of poll respondents said owning a home has helped them financially, that enthusiasm is slightly muted among those in the Gateway Cities — 62 percent of whom said it has helped and 24 percent of whom said it has hurt their financial stability. Comparatively, 75 percent of non-Gateway City homeowners said it has helped while just 13 percent said it has hurt. |
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Yet satisfaction with homeownership is high, mainly driven by intangibles like pride and control over one's living space, according to the poll. Nearly half of Gateway City respondents said the ability to pass their home on to their children as an asset was a benefit of being a homeowner, compared to nearly a third of non-Gateway City respondents who said the same. |
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“They still feel like this is their home — it’s a stable household that helps anchor their family, so there's still benefits outside of financial satisfaction,” said Elliot Schmiedl, director of homeownership at the Massachusetts Housing Partnership. “But it's more of a daunting challenge for folks under 100 percent area median income and for non-white households, and it has to do with costs.” |
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| The Senate is debating energy legislation that could phase out GSEP by 2030. Ask your senator to protect public safety, reduce methane leaks, and preserve the skilled jobs that keep Massachusetts' energy system safe. | |
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More from CommonWealth Beacon |
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SHIFTING WINDS: Gov. Maura Healey celebrated the completion of the country’s first commercial-scale offshore wind project in New Bedford. She touted its benefits while shrugging off the wind development company’s recent financial disputes that have made headlines and threatened the project. Hallie Claflin has more. |
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HIGH ENERGY: Senators expect to vote next week on a sprawling legislative package that would take aim at the state’s extensive natural gas system. Mass Save, the politically endangered energy efficiency program that was targeted for cuts in the House, sneaks through largely unscathed. Jordan Wolman reports. |
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TRANSPARENCY TROUBLES: Statements of support from civil right and good government groups accompanied a controversial House measure that would both curtail Diana DiZoglio’s power to audit the Legislature and also subject lawmakers to public records requirements. But the statements caught some observers off guard, given that the legislation tied the two issues together, and muddied the debate over a path forward on issues that have roiled state government for years. Chris Lisinski digs in. |
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OPINION: Four years ago, a state commission outlined the unique funding needs of rural school districts, which face growing strains on their budgets. Todd Gazda, the principal of Chester Elementary School, which serves 127 students in the small Berkshire County town of 1,200 residents, says state leaders have yet to deliver. |
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IMMIGRATION: A federal judge this week vacated two Trump administration policies in a ruling that could upend some of the most controversial actions by immigration enforcement agents in Massachusetts. (WBUR) |
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ENVIRONMENT: A coalition of Massachusetts environmental groups says it is launching a summer boycott of Worcester-based Polar Beverages next week, to protest the company’s opposition to expanded bottle recycling legislation. (GBH News) |
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MUNICIPAL MATTERS: New Bedford city councilors approved $1.7 million in reductions to the general fund Monday night, proposing the elimination of four city government positions while reshaping Mayor Jon Mitchell’s proposed budget. (The New Bedford Light) |
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HOUSING: A new statewide housing production tracker shows Massachusetts is nearly 16 percent of the way to reaching its goal of adding 222,000 housing units between 2025 and 2035. (State House News Service – paywall) |
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PUBLIC HEALTH: Bay State health officials have announced that West Nile virus was detected in mosquitoes for the first time this year. The presence was confirmed in a mosquito sample collected in Clarksburg — out in Berkshire County. (Boston Herald – paywall) |
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