Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey. State House News Service photo / file

During a scrum at the Verizon Innovation Center in Boston Thursday afternoon, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Maura Healey stayed noncommittal on proposals to authorize a real estate transfer tax to help fund affordable housing needs in the midst of a housing crisis, saying she was leaving it in local communities’ hands.

“Right now, I think my position is to continue to see how it unfolds at the community level, and as with many things, leave it to the communities to make those assessments about what best fits their needs,” she said.

Communities that favor such taxes have run into roadblocks on Beacon Hill, where they have been unable to win the authority to levy the taxes from the governor and the state legislature. Boston’s own proposal took a key step forward earlier this week. Real estate industry groups are pushing against it in favor of an expansion of the city’s Community Preservation Act taxing authority, which also helps raise money for affordable housing.

Healey’s answer comes a day after she and her running mate, Kim Driscoll, released their housing policy plan to “dramatically increase housing stock across the state in order to drive down costs for all.”

She told reporters she plans to address the housing shortage and cost of rent and new homes by finding “new ways to grow our housing stock” and to “preserve and rehabilitate existing stock.”