Boston’s inclusionary zoning rules are back at the center of the city’s housing debate after Chief of Planning Kairos Shen told a room of developers that “it’s hard to develop here. It should be.” Shen made the remark at a forum hosted by the MIT Center for Real Estate on Oct. 16, 2026, and the Wu administration defended it in a statement on Friday, Oct. 23, according to the Boston Herald.
The remark has put two positions side by side again. Developers, a city councilor and an economist quoted in recent coverage say the city’s affordability requirements are slowing construction. The administration says Boston is already speeding up housing production without lowering its standards.
What Shen Said at the MIT Forum
Shen spoke on a panel at a half-day symposium on inclusionary zoning and housing costs, alongside developers from The Davis Companies and Oxford Properties, Banker & Tradesman reported. “We’re developing good stuff, you know? You guys want us to lower our standards,” Shen said, according to that report. “Part of my job is to hold those standards and try to still make them work.”
The Boston Herald’s Oct. 25 report, distributed by Tribune Content Agency, said Shen also told the audience he would “bet on Boston and invest in Boston over Anywhere, USA.”
How Boston’s Inclusionary Zoning Policy Works
According to the City of Boston’s inclusionary zoning page, the policy began in 2000 as the Inclusionary Development Policy. It was updated in 2023, and the key changes took effect in October 2024. The current rules:
- apply to market-rate housing developments with seven or more units, down from 10;
- require 17% to 20% of units to be income-restricted, up from 13%, depending on building size and affordability levels;
- set aside 3% of units in large rental projects for households with mobile housing vouchers; and
- deepen affordability from 70% of area median income to an average of 50% or 60%.
In some cases, developers may pay into the Inclusionary Development Policy Fund instead of building the units on site. The Mayor’s Office of Housing uses that money to fund income-restricted housing elsewhere in the city. The Boston Planning and Development Agency keeps its own inclusionary development policy page with the program’s history.
The Case Made by Critics
Banker & Tradesman reported that roughly 30,000 housing units have been approved in Boston in recent years but have not broken ground because of financial obstacles, including higher construction costs and interest rates. One example it cited is The Davis Companies’ Soldiers Field Road project in Allston, approved in 2023 for 450 apartments, 93 condominiums and a 195-room hotel, which has not started construction.
“We’ve had historic inflation, so the cost structure today to build anything is very, very high,” Melissa Schrock, the company’s managing director of mixed-use development, said at the forum. “I do think through a combination of reducing some of the sticks and offering more carrots, we could achieve the policy goal.”
City Councilor Ed Flynn said last month that “twenty percent of zero units is zero,” according to the Herald. The Herald also reported that Cambridge is considering lowering its 20% requirement to 10%, and that San Francisco cut its rate from 15% to 5% in July.
Edward Stringham, an economist at Trinity College who took part in the forum, told the Herald that inclusionary zoning is “a very costly way of providing housing to people of lower income” and that its cost falls partly on market-rate tenants and buyers in the same buildings.
The Wu Administration’s Response
City spokesperson Marcela Dwork said in the statement that “Chief Shen, the mayor, and our city teams have been working alongside developers and neighborhood leaders to find every way to accelerate housing production.” The mayor’s office pointed to rezoning, faster development approvals, a new accelerator fund, and targeted tax and regulatory relief for projects ready to start construction.
Dwork said the city’s office-to-residential conversion program has 2,400 units built or in the pipeline, that Boston has added nearly 16,000 new homes over the past five years, and that the city has approved 23 million square feet of commercial space since 2022. Wu’s office said Shen was describing the city’s high standards for development, including climate resiliency and affordability, according to the Herald. “Rather than joining a race to the bottom by lowering standards to chase quick profit, we work to accelerate development that continues to improve quality of life in our city,” Dwork said.
The debate comes weeks after Mayor Michelle Wu began using BPDA powers to grant tax incentives on about 1,400 stalled units, a step aimed at approved projects that lacked financing. For more on prices and supply, see our explainer on why Boston housing is so expensive and our update on the financing push behind Dorchester Bay City.
What Happens Next
The administration has not proposed any change to Boston’s inclusionary zoning requirements, and its Oct. 23 statement did not announce one.
Sources
- Boston Herald (via Tribune Content Agency): Mayor Wu’s planning chief under fire for saying ‘it should be’ hard to build in Boston (Oct. 25, 2026)
- Banker & Tradesman: Planning Chief Says Boston Should Be ‘Hard to Develop’ (Oct. 19, 2026)
- City of Boston, Mayor’s Office of Housing: Inclusionary Zoning
- Boston Planning and Development Agency: Inclusionary Development Policy
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