The state official charged with overseeing and encouraging housing efforts in Massachusetts is stepping down.
After three years in the governor's cabinet, Secretary of the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities Ed Augustus is leaving the Healey administration to become CEO of UniBank.
First picked by the governor in 2023, the former Worcester city manager has overseen efforts to close the state's housing gap, including the rollout of new ADU policies and a $5 billion housing bond bill passed in 2024.
Speaking in Pittsfield this week, Augustus said there isn't any one solution to fixing the state's housing crisis, but the state's taking as many approaches as it can.
“The work is happening in big cities and small towns - it's here in the Berkshires, on the North Shore and the South Shore and in the Pioneer Valley,” he said on Feb. 17. “There isn't a silver bullet to fixing a challenge this big. That's why we're not just doing one thing, we're doing everything: new construction, preservation, affordable housing, smart reuse of old buildings/surplus state land and the tools communities need to say ‘yes’ to housing.”
The secretary is slated to depart on Friday, Feb. 27. Former State Rep. Juana Matias has been tapped to take his place.
Augustus is reportedly the eighth member of Healey's cabinet to step down. Another recent departure: Education Secretary Patrick Tutwiler.
Tutwiler's tenure ended last week as he too took on a CEO role - one leading Walker Therapeutic & Educational Programs in Needham.
