How ironic that an OpEd urging Mayor Menino to cease his successful and aggressive efforts to add low cost housing units in the city (Husock, January 2, 2006) was published the day after a Globe article exposed Boston’s status as the metro area with the nation’s highest number of millionaires, one in 20 households (Talcott, January 1, 2006).

Here are some other realities Husock failed to consider. One in five Massachusetts families has an income lower than 200% of the federal poverty level. Massachusetts is currently the third least affordable state in the nation for rental housing. To afford a non-subsidized two-bedroom apartment in the Commonwealth in 2005, a full-time worker has to earn a minimum of $21.88 per hour, more than three times the Massachusetts minimum wage. In Massachusetts there are less than four affordable and available units for every five extremely low-income renters. Some 19,000-29,000 individuals stay in Massachusetts emergency shelters each year. In addition, an estimated 10,500 families are homeless annually in the Commonwealth; another 52,000 live in overcrowded, unstable housing.

Husock would have done better to urge officials and residents in other Massachusetts cities and towns to follow in Mayor Menino’s footsteps when it comes to prioritizing the creation of permanently affordable housing for the state’s households who are not fortunate enough to be wealthy.