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Mission and Vison Statement
The Youth Affordable Housing Coalition (YAHC) is a non-partisan, youth-centric campaign tackling the Massachusetts housing crisis through research-backed policies to expand production from statewide zoning reform to predictable permitting timelines. Our colleges define the state, yet students and grads are priced out.
Our mission is to empower college students and youth to engage in rigorous policy research, foster collaboration among diverse stakeholders, and advocate for community-informed solutions to the state's housing affordability crisis.
We envision a Massachusetts with abundant, affordable housing for all. A housing future shaped by youth and built for youth, where housing works for young people and for Massachusetts. We hope for a state where young people don’t have to leave to live, where every young person can afford to build a life, and where everyone has room to grow.
What Makes Us Different
Massachusetts is renowned for its world-class educational institutions, yet the very students and recent graduates who represent the future workforce and job creators of the Commonwealth are left out of the housing discourse. YAHC is changing this by building our collective voice through a movement of collegiate organizations. We are organizing to show a widespread demand: our generation wants to invest in our future here, but we are being priced out of the communities that we call home.
YAHC operates as a strictly grassroots movement, independent of paid staff or corporate research funding. Our momentum is driven entirely by deeply committed students and alumni from institutions including Harvard, Brandeis, Boston University, Northeastern University, Boston College, UMass Amherst, and Temple University. Our members conduct rigorous, independent research out of a genuine commitment to resolving the housing crisis and building an affordable future for everyone.
If we make it affordable for them to stay, they will start businesses and hire other graduates across the state. If rent remains unaffordable, recent graduates can’t take lower salaries at Cambridge startups, and those startups will eventually leave, too. We are offering the perspective of a generation that loves this state and wants it to realize its full potential by keeping its talent here.
Through our rigorous research, we plan to address all counterarguments and flip NIMBY narratives, create early connections in the state house, propose bill language after synthesizing language with experts, and rally the whole state to put massive pressure on legislators to pass our pro-housing legislation. Our goal is to go past just lobbying and advocacy.
Our Team
We are, simply put, a relatively small group of passionate students, researchers, organizers, and young professionals committed to building a more just housing system. We don't yet have a directory, but as we grow as an organization, member profiles will be added here!
Partners
Right now, our parent organization is Abundant Housing MA, and we hope to develop a vast network of connections with many other organizations as we rally the state for affordable housing. Please fill out our interest form if you are interested in collaborating!
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