To the Editor,

Newton is facing the same housing shortage crushing communities across Massachusetts. For too many families, homeownership is a distant impossibility, and rents are rising at astronomical rates.

Senator Ed Markey stood with Senator Elizabeth Warren to pass the bipartisan 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act—landmark legislation to lower housing costs, build more homes, and curb large investors from scooping up single-family houses. Markey voted for it. Donald Trump refused to sign it, but it became law anyway.

Congressman Seth Moulton, meanwhile, missed the final House vote on the very housing bill he says is central to his campaign.

We need elected leaders who do more than talk about the housing crisis—we need leaders who show up and deliver. Markey has also joined Warren in taking on Wall Street landlords and private equity firms that are making it harder for families to buy a home. Seth Moulton is not taking this issue seriously, a constant theme of his campaign.

Moulton’s dispassionate indifference to the plight of housing affordability will have real consequences here in Newton. I’m grateful Markey is treating the housing shortage with a sense of urgency, and I’ll be voting for him on Sept. 1.

Max Zatlin
Newtonville