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Fare evaders, beware. The MBTA will begin doling out citations and fines today to anyone caught trying to sneak onto the bus or train without paying. (First offense is a warning, but subsequent offenses could land you a ticket of up to $100. Learn more about the fines here.)
today, to the news:
Looking to grab a home? A new study says home prices nationwide could return to “normal” by 2030. But Boston will have to wait a little longer to see changes. The new analysis by real estate company RedFin paints a relatively bleak picture for home affordability in the area, barring some major changes, WBUR’s Amy Sokolow reports.
- Define “normal”: Normal doesn’t necessarily mean affordable; rather, it means a time when someone earning the area’s median income can afford to grab a median-priced home. RedFin’s researchers used 2018 as a benchmark because the national median ratio between housing costs and incomes was 30%, and mortgage rates were relatively stable. “People could still afford to grab a home without stretching their budgets beyond what most financial advisors would tell them,” Daryl Fairweather, RedFin’s chief economist, told Amy.
- When will we get back there? Some metros — even high-cost cities like San Francisco and Austin — have already returned to or are approaching their 2018-era housing cost-to-income ratios. But it could take another 10-plus years for Greater Boston to get there. “ Boston is one of the places where it will be very challenging for it to become affordable again because of how high home prices have gotten and how incomes have not grown enough to offset the increase in home prices,” Fairweather said. “So, the story in Boston is a bit more pessimistic.”
- What would it take? Mortgage rates would have to drop below 4.5% before Boston’s housing prices could be considered normal again, “which is kind of beyond the realm of possibilities unless we have a severe recession,” said Fairweather. Either that, or there would need to be some “fundamental changes” to the area’s housing supply, she added.
ICE has launched “Patriot 2.0,” a new immigration enforcement operation in Massachusetts, according to the Department of Homeland Security. This comes just days after the Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against the city of Boston, claiming its immigration policies were blocking the Trump administration’s enforcement goals.
- What to know: Tom Homan, the “border czar,” yesterday told CNN the administration’s mass deportation effort would shift toward “sanctuary cities,” including Boston, this week. “Sanctuary policies like those pushed by Mayor [Michelle] Wu not only attract and harbor criminals but also place these public safety threats above the interests of law-abiding American citizens,” a DHS spokesperson told WBUR’s Paul Connearney.
- What Wu’s saying: “For months, ICE has refused to provide any information about their activities in Boston and refuses to issue warrants, while we hear reports of ICE agents taking parents as they are dropping their kids off at school. That does not make our community safer,” said Wu. “We expect that federal law enforcement will abide by the constitution and laws … and we are prepared to take legal action at any evidence to the contrary.” Her office added “no Boston police or local resources will be co-opted into federal immigration enforcement and their mass deportation agenda,” as per Boston’s Trust Act.
- Meanwhile: As of Friday, the city had not responded to the DOJ’s lawsuit, which many legal experts and political leaders (including Wu) have deemed “unconstitutional.”
If you think you have a qualifying time for the 2026 Boston Marathon, it’s time to register this week. And you have to be speedy to meet the lower qualifying times. For runners ages 18 to 34, the cap is 2 hours and 55 minutes for men, and 3 hours and 25 minutes for women and nonbinary athletes. Athletes are getting “faster and faster,” Jack Fleming, president of the Boston Athletic Association, said back in 2024 about the adjusted qualifying standards.
- The BAA will accept applications from today until 5 p.m. on Sept. 12.
After the storm: Crews are still working to restore power to parts of Massachusetts after Saturday’s severe storms uprooted trees and downed power lines. The National Weather Service says it’s going to survey the damage today, with a particular focus on the town of Holden, where tornado debris was detected on radar. Joe Dellicarpini, a NWS meteorologist, told WBUR that teams will look into the wind speed associated with Holden’s apparent tornado before they assign a rating.
P.S. — Renowned climate activist Bill McKibben will be at CitySpace tonight at 6:30 p.m. to discuss his new book, “Here Comes the Sun.” Premiere tickets are already sold out, but you can snag a general admission seat right here.
WBUR’s Nik DeCosta-Klipa contributed to today’s newsletter.
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