Today’s Boston Globe has an op-ed from the CEO of the Greater Boston Real Estate Board (GBREB) on how to make housing more affordable in Massachusetts. Excuse me while I choke on my Cherrios.

This the same real estate lobby that opposed virtually every new initiative designed to increase the amount of affordable housing over the last forty years. Real estate interests opposed Boston’s efforts to initiate a linkage fee for affordable housing in 1983 under Mayor Flynn and testified earlier this year against Mayor Wu’s proposal to increase linkage. They funded the campaign to repeal rent control in 1994. They fought Mayor Menino’s efforts to implement the city’s first inclusionary development policy in 2000. They opposed efforts to win approval of the Community Preservation Act in Boston in 2001 and earlier fought off attempts to fund CPA with a statewide or local-option transfer tax. GBREB threatened a campaign to defeat the CPA in Boston again in 2016 but backed down when they saw the broad political and grassroots coalition that had formed to pass it. As recently as 2019, they were lobbying at the State House against increases in the state match for CPA.

So, what is going on here? The piece makes some good points endorsing Governor Healey-backed proposals to ease restrictions on accessory dwelling units, building affordable housing on state-owned land and encouraging CPA communities to spend more than the 10% minimum threshold on housing.

What is not mentioned in the op-ed is the real headline. Re-establishment of local-option rent control as proposed by Boston and Somerville is not mentioned. Nor is passage of another Healey priority – giving communities the right to assess a tax on high-end real estate sales in order to raise more funds for affordable housing. GBREB is trying to look like they are on offense in the affordable housing battle but they are just, once again, playing defense and protecting the narrow interests of a select few in the real estate industry. GBREB is playing its version of the NIMBY card. NIMBLY. Not In My Bottom Line Yardstick.

The problem with solving our affordable housing crisis isn’t endorsing the easy items, like building on state-owned land. We have to do the tough stuff too. And that requires everyone, communities like Milton and the Greater Boston Real Estate Board, to get beyond just saying no.