Massachusetts Senate Census Panel Hears Immigration Collapse Could Upend Housing Projections

BOSTON — February 10, 2026 — Massachusetts Senate census panel hears that collapsing immigration threatens statewide housing projections built on 40,000 net arrivals per year. Chair William N. Brownsberger convened the February 10 hearing of the Senate Committee on the Census, where Susan Strait of the UMass Donahue Institute reported that net international migration to Massachusetts peaked at nearly 78,000 in fiscal year 2024 before falling sharply, with the second half of fiscal 2025 approaching zero — far below the roughly 40,000 annual arrivals assumed even in the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities' low population scenario. Tim Reardon of EOHLC told the committee the statewide housing plan's target of 222,000 to 262,000 units by 2035 is grounded in a need of 115,000 units just to address the existing shortage — covering doubled-up households, families in emergency shelter, and a healthy vacancy rate — plus between 75,000 and 145,000 additional units driven by demographic demand. Brownsberger noted that if net immigration is cut by half or more from the plan's assumptions, it could shift household projections by as many as 120,000 units. Senator Liz Miranda pressed witnesses on both the housing math and whether incarcerated residents from Boston neighborhoods are properly counted in the census — their current location in a correctional facility rather than in their home community.