Study: 435,000 New Housing Units Needed In Boston Area By 2040

A new report is estimating that Greater Boston will need another 435,000 new housing units by 2040 to lure new workers and accommodate an aging population.

The report issued by the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) said the new housing — mostly multifamily and in urban areas — is key to ensuring the economy will keep growing by drawing in talented younger workers.

If current demographic and housing trends continue, according to the report, the region's population will grow by less than 7 percent over the next three decades and be decidedly older.

While the population age 65 and older may increase by more than 80 percent, the working-age population will remain essentially unchanged.

"On the whole this region is not entirely crowded," Marc Draisen, MAPC's executive director, told WBUR, "and the question is, are we going to allow those developments to proceed [and] create the kind of housing that young families are actually looking for in the places where they're interested living?"

Without an influx of new workers, the number of jobs in the region could grow by less than 1 percent from 2010 to 2040.

MAPC is a state planning agency governed by municipal representatives, gubernatorial appointees and designees of other public agencies.

With reporting by The Associated Press and the WBUR Newsroom