To offset a crisis that has pushed the average price for single-family housing in Massachusetts over $400,000—driving many middle-class families to live elsewhere—Northeastern’s Center for Urban and Regional Policy (CURP) has announced a plan for creating 33,000 new houses in the state over the next ten years.

If adopted as state law, the initiative would be funded through nearly $400 million in state-sponsored community incentives.

Speakers at a press conference announcing the plan said high housing costs are putting the squeeze on employers whose workers can’t afford to live in the state, and the trend of building “McMansions” on two-acre lots is causing trouble for the environment.

The CURP-authored plan would have the state pay communities incentives for allowing denser developments, cover all K-12 educational costs for children living in housing created under the plan, and give towns greater authority over architectural designs for affordable housing.

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