Gov. Maura Healey moved an enormous $4.1 billion bill to tackle a housing shortage decades in the making to a Joint Committee on Housing hearing Thursday morning, doubling down on the urgency of the “issue of our time” following her State of the Commonwealth speech the night before.
“This is our highest priority as an administration,” said Healey. “Housing costs, and the lack of available housing for families across a range of incomes, is the single greatest challenge facing our state. We submitted legislation, the Affordable Homes Act, because we want to work with you all to do something about it.”
Filed in October, the Affordable Homes Act, H. 4138, proposes over 30 capital investments, tax credits, and policy tools to stimulate production, preservation and accessibility of housing across the state.
With the existing Low-Income Housing Tax Credit and Housing Development Incentive Program, Healey said in a foreword, the legislation is predicted to create 40,000 new housing units and preserve 27,000 more over the next 5 years. Another 114,000 homes are already being worked on, Healey said.
The Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities has estimated the Commonwealth needs 200,000 homes by 2030 to “tackle the existing housing shortage and meet growing demand,” Healey said.
Among the bills many components, the legislation would contribute $1.5 billion to make capital improvements across over 43,000 units of public housing. It also increases funding to a wide array of first-time homebuyers supports and sustainable and green housing initiatives.
The administration also cited an unreleased UMass Donahue Institute analysis, which they said puts the act’s — in addition to previously enacted tax cuts — estimated product at 30,000 jobs, $25 billion in economic impact and $800 million in tax revenue over the next 5 years.
Over 250 people signed up to testify at the hearing, Committee House Chair Rep. James Arciero. A large coalition, including housing advocates, community leaders and residents, testified in support of the bill.
Supporters noted the importance of increasing supply to allow working-class people and seniors to stay in their homes, recent graduates to stay and find work in Massachusetts, and allow businesses to recruit workers. Tackling the growing crisis will allow the state to remain economically competitive, proponents argued, as well as promote equity.
Others offered a more split take of the broad bill.
“Despite our support for many of the capital authorizations outlined in H.4138, we strongly oppose
two outside policy sections of the bill, a new sales tax on real estate and inclusionary zoning because they would make it more expensive and difficult to create the development that Massachusetts so desperately needs,” the Greater Boston Real Estate Board said in a statement, arguing costs would be passed to the tenant or buyer.
Healey said the shortage has been “decades in the making,” long stoked by insufficient action.
“We should have been as a state doing things to incent housing development over the last 10, 20 years,” said Healey. “We didn’t, and we’re suffering as a result. So we need to act. The future of our state depends on it.”
