Methuen Mayor D.J. Beauregard and Lawrence Mayor Brian DePena were some of the officials at the Phoenician Restaurant event surrounded by community members and business professionals who listened as State Sens. Barry Finegold, D-Andover, Pavel Payano, D-Lawrence, and State Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr, R-Gloucester, spoke about issues like the housing crisis and the rise in artificial intelligence.
Senators such as Finegold and Payano highlighted the evolving role of artificial intelligence and its potential for those who implement it in their businesses.
Finegold admitted he uses AI to help write his speeches and for research.
He also discussed the work that Gov. Maura Healey has done to give state workers the tools to use artificial intelligence to become more efficient in their jobs.
“We can't hide from technology of the future,” Finegold said. “We have to embrace it.”
Payano echoed Finegold's sentiment about staying ahead of artificial intelligence trends and the effect of things like autonomous vehicles.
Payano stressed how quick AI has already affected everyday life with people jumping on board faster than they did the Internet. The goal will be to educate workers and businesses on how to better use it.
“It's going to change our economy,” Payano said. “We have to be as innovative as the technology comes in.”
The state's housing crisis was also a main focus of the forum.
The state is in a challenging time as it faces a major housing shortage, Finegold said.
He stated that in 2022, 200,000 people left Massachusetts. The average house in the greater Boston area is valued at $1 million and someone needs to make “close to $200,000 a year” to afford it, he said.
Tarr said the cost of living and the cost of housing are factors driving Massachusetts' competitiveness. He said the state has set up the MBTA Communities Law, but needs to better understand now what is holding back housing production.
“We need to understand water utilities and wastewater,” Tarr said. “We need to understand the things that communities need to be able to build housing and then we need to be able to respond with those things to create housing.”
When those costs are added, he said there has been a “terrible trend” in Massachusetts of an exodus of tens of thousands of people each year over the last seven years.
“That's unsustainable and we should not accept it.”
Although rent control has been considered, Finegold said it's not the solution. Cities like Austin and Phoenix have seen population growth as prices fall down on homes because there is a greater supply.
“We have to build more,” he said.
“It's too hard to build in our state,” he said. “here's too much regulation. There's too much red tape and one of the things that we want to do in the Senate is make it easier to build.”
He cited how Massachusetts has only grown 1% since 2019 and contributes housing as one of the reasons.
Accessory dwelling units being built “by right” is a positive direction, Finegold said.
Payano discussed how he's heard people not wanting developments or more traffic in and around their neighborhoods when housing gets brought up in different municipalities. Other commonwealth residents have brought up conservation concerns on where housing units would be built.
He said he's talked to people who are struggling and heard from Massachusetts residents where there are three families living in the same rental unit. Payano said that's something that shouldn't be seen in the United States, let alone Massachusetts.
“Whether you are involved in your municipality or not, I think it's important that you tell your leaders that you want housing to happen here."
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