7. Under the MBTA Communities Act, Newton and Brookline are required to enable more by-right development near transit, but their compliance is not sufficient to produce the housing we need.  What additional measures will you support?

Rick Lipof

Much of the same things I have touched on above include increasing density bonuses, streamlining the permitting process and providing tax incentives.  Public private partnerships could create collaborations between municipalities, developers and communities to create innovative housing solutions.  All cannot be done without investing in infrastructure upgrades to transit access, pedestrian and bike access and utilities.  Additional rezoning, no matter how tedious for the municipality will have to be an ongoing conversation.  Further investment in Housing Trust Funds is a must. 

Ales Jablon

As a finance professional, it comes down to incentives. I think the communities act was a good start, but my view on mandates is that often they work up to the safe harbor, but often times fail to incentivize above it. I think increasing grants and tax credits, including through the affordable housing trust fund and low income housing tax credits (as proposed in the Affordable Homes Act) are always a good way to go. We can also help by promoting upzoning and mixed use developments, and rezoning unused state owned land for high density residential use.

Amy Mah Sangiolo

I support the Governor’s proposal to allow ADUs by-right, but also support giving communities the ability to make adjustments as appropriate to their community, repurposing state owned properties to create more housing, and giving municipalities the ability to levy real estate transfer fees in order to fund the creation and preservation of affordable housing units.

Additional Information for Voters

The Massachusetts Housing Choice Bill, or the “MBTA Communities Act,” is a 2021 state law that was enacted to address the state’s critical housing shortage by requiring transit proximate communities to zone to allow increasing the housing supply statewide.  The MBTA Communities Act requires the 177 cities and towns in relative proximity to MBTA commuter rail and the T, to modify their zoning to permit multi-family housing near transit, by-right.  While the MBTA Communities Act requires zoning changes to permit multi-family housing, it does not require construction of any multi-family housing.

Bill Humphrey

I support state-run public banking with private and public deposits deployed at a large enough scale to offer discounted financing options to help builders address certain policy objectives that have stalled or slowed under higher private lending rates.

On the question of zoning itself, the state will likely need to step in again with more carrots and sticks to get municipalities to go beyond minimal or nominal compliance. Positive incentives could come in the form of further grants and programs to support and enhance new housing (e.g. more MassWorks offerings). Wraparound service aid for low-income projects would help. We might explore adding bonuses to existing annual state aid based on housing production figures. We should strengthen compliance by making clear that rezoning is a requirement, and that cities and towns that choose not to will be rezoned by the state (with local input) as opposed to by the local government.