The Campaign to Protect the Affordable Housing Law said its coalition of advocates has grown to more than 250 individuals and organizations.

The coalition includes civic, business, religious and academic leaders as well as senior, environmental, housing and civil rights groups.  The group is committed to protecting the state’s Chapter 40B law, which promotes the development of affordable housing.

The campaign also announced that it hired Andrew Baker as its Western Massachusetts campaign coordinator. Baker will oversee the organization of voters in Berkshire, Franklin, Hampshire and Hampden counties to vote "no" on the ballot question.

Banker & Tradesman reported earlier this month that Baker left the Hilltown Community Development Corp. (Hilltown CDC), where he served for four years as executive director, helping rural towns in Hampshire, Berkshire and Hampden counties develop small businesses, provide elder services and create affordable housing.

During the past five years, Hilltown CDC has worked with the towns of Williamsburg and Westhampton, using the affordable housing law to create small-scale affordable housing cluster developments for first-time homebuyers and seniors.

"In a high-cost state like Massachusetts, our future depends on making it affordable for young working families to live in our state and for elders to be able to remain in their own communities. It’s hard to imagine why anyone would want to take away this essential economic development tool for all our towns," Baker said.

During the past decade, 80 percent of all affordable housing units developed outside the state’s urban centers were created using the affordable housing law, according to the group.