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Stephen Medeiros
Earlier this year, the Housing Choice bill passed with robust support from the Massachusetts Association of Realtors and a broad coalition of partners committed to enabling the creation of new housing across the state. Now, we must collectively turn our attention to realizing the opportunity before us, an opportunity that exists in each city and town and which must be unlocked through timely implementation of supportive zoning policy at the local level.
We know well that demand for housing is high, with inventory at historic lows and steep competition amongst buyers for homes as they come onto the market. This imbalance of supply and demand drives home prices up and prevents many people from attaining the dream of home ownership. The Housing Choice law clears the way for cities and towns to do something about it by spurring housing development through changes to their zoning.
Why It’s Significant
We can all engage at the local level to help enact these changes and increase both opportunities for homeownership and the diversity of housing available across the state. Recently, the state issued guidance on the new law and with spring town meetings quickly approaching, now is the time to act.
Cities and towns control land use through zoning ordinances (in cities) and bylaws (in towns). Local zoning determines what kind of housing may be built and where it may be located within a community. The Housing Choice law, which applies to all cities and towns in Massachusetts except Boston, lowers the vote threshold that is required for certain types of zoning changes to pass in a city or town from two-thirds of the voting body to a simple majority (or 50 percent plus one) of the voting body.
For example, in a town with an open town meeting form of government, any resident who is a registered voter may show up and participate as a member of the voting body in this annual local process that determines spending and policymaking outcomes. The town places an eligible zoning bylaw, such as one making multifamily housing by right in an eligible location, on the Town Meeting warrant.
On the day of Town Meeting in this hypothetical town, 150 residents show up to participate. Because of the Housing Choice law, the multifamily zoning bylaw will only need the support of half of the voters at the meeting plus one to pass – 76 voters in this example. For comparison, if the town had considered this same zoning bylaw at last year’s Town Meeting, before Housing Choice was enacted, the bylaw would have required the support of two-thirds of the voters at the meeting in order to pass, or 100 voters.
New Law Creates Opportunities
By requiring strong support, yet lowering the required vote threshold for passage, Housing Choice creates opportunities to develop housing more easily in communities that move to consider and approve eligible zoning ordinances or bylaws. Some of these eligible zoning ordinances and bylaws include the ability to develop as of right:
- Multifamily or mixed-use development in an eligible location.
- Accessory dwelling units (ADUs), whether inside the principal dwelling or in a separate unit on the same property.
- “Open space and residential development,” a development design where homes in a new subdivision are clustered together with reduced requirements around lot area, frontage, setback, and lot coverage requirements. The remaining lot space is not developed, but is instead preserved as open space.
Other eligible zoning ordinances and bylaws include the right to develop by special permit:
- Multifamily housing or mixed-use development in an eligible location.
- An increase to the number of permissible housing units on a property.
- ADUs in a detached structure on the same property.
- Reduction of parking requirements for multifamily or mixed-use development.
Further, a city or town can now adopt with a simple majority vote zoning for a smart growth zoning district or a starter home zoning district, changes to dimensional requirements to allow the creation of additional housing units, natural resource protection zoning and transfer of development rights.
Overall, there are a diverse array of eligible local zoning options under Housing Choice that are supportive of housing production, allowing cities and towns to choose the strategies that are most compatible with their unique local needs, preferences and built environments.
What matters now is broad local engagement to ensure that the housing development opportunity before us now moves ahead in cities and towns, with the same level of urgency and strong momentum that led to the historic passage of this critically important state law to unlock housing across Massachusetts.
Stephen Medeiros is 2021 president of the Massachusetts Association of Realtors and a Realtor with Keller Williams Realty in Easton.
