The housing policy proposals gaining the most attention in Boston’s mayoral race tend to be those that require state legislation, but the powers of the mayor’s office include many revenue-neutral policy tools that allow Boston’s mayor to take substantive action.

Housing continues to be one of the most important issues to Boston voters, and the city’s next mayor will inherit a housing shortage decades in the making. Housing Forward-MA outlines a revenue-neutral, actionable housing strategy for Boston’s next mayor.

Smaller-scale, creative tweaks to how we design, build, permit, and think about new housing, when repeated over and over again, can have impactful results for addressing both the state’s overall housing shortage and the lack of missing middle housing.

With Mayor Martin J. Walsh bound for Washington, D.C., developers and advocates are wondering how his successor will tackle one of Boston’s thorniest challenges: the steep cost of housing.

After witnessing Boston’s heated battles over affordable housing firsthand, former Boston City Councilor Josh Zakim has formed a nonprofit called Housing Forward-MA to help find solutions to this oft-vexing challenge.

Zakim said he hopes the group will help further racial equality by encouraging more housing construction.

Organization will focus on breaking down zoning barriers and providing help to local activist groups.