Housing Costs And An Aging Congress

Housing costs in Boston have always caused complaints. But amid the improving economy and a contested mayoral race this year those complaints have gotten even louder.

Mayoral challenger and City Councilor Tito Jackson says the price of housing is a huge issue.

"I face people on a day to day basis, about 60 families who are coming to my office every single week, who are getting pushed out. And by the way, looking at the courts, there are 5,000 evictions that happened last year," Jackson said on Radio Boston last week.

But Mayor Marty Walsh says his administration has been working on this.

"Since 2014, we have 22,000 units of housing that's been permitted in the city of Boston," said Walsh. "Of those 22,000, 9,000 are moderate-low-income units. What do I mean by that? People who are in between $0 and say $120,000 per family, which is the middle class."

But while housing costs are rising, so are salaries — so is the cost of housing in Boston really that bad?

Meanwhile, while housing costs are rising across the country, so is the average age of members of Congress. Which has led to the delivery of Alzheimer's drugs to members of Congress. Is this something voters should be concerned about?

Evan Horowitz Boston Globe "Quick Study" columnist. He tweets @globehorowitz.