Housing Secretary Ed Augustus, right, speaks with Jefferson Apartment Group Senior Vice President Sandi Silk at an Urban Land Institute event in Boston March 7, 2024. Photo by James Sanna | Banker & Tradesman Staff

Secretary of Housing Ed Augustus, the point person for the Healey administration on fixing the state’s housing crisis, signaled to a real estate industry audience Thursday morning that Gov. Maura Healey’s administration planned to introduce more housing reforms during her first term.

“I think, once we get some of these pieces kind of behind us pass the Affordable Homes Act and get further along in [implementing the] MBTA Communities [law] that I think we’re open to a lot of different things that will move the needle,” he told the large audience at an Urban Land Institute Boston/New England panel discussion on housing issues at the UMass Club in downtown Boston.

Augustus said a commission Healey appointed in January, called the Unlocking Housing Production Commission, will be the source for many new proposals. The panel of construction union officials, for-profit and nonprofit developers, municipal officials and housing advocates is meeting with Augustus and Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll every other week to hear how other states have dealt with their housing problems and to investigate obstacles to building more homes. The commission will also be adding a venue for developers and others to submit testimony and suggestions, he said.

“I often steal the [former Chicago Mayor] Rahm Emanuel line that our crisis is a horrible thing to waste. We’ve got a housing crisis. And sometimes people are willing to do things, given the pressures of this crisis that maybe in a more normal political atmosphere that did not want to do. So, I think we are open to looking at other things that we can and should be doing around creating more housing faster, which is my kind of charge from the governor,” he said.

The secretary also noted that his office was examining whether and how to update the regulations around Chapter 40B housing developments “to reflect current realities.” The law allows housing builders to circumvent local zoning if they include a sufficient amount of affordable housing in a project and are able to work through multiple years of appeals and other legal challenges.

In response to questions from moderator Sandi Silk, senior vice president at multifamily developer Jefferson Apartment Group, Augustus also defended the Healey administration’s choice to include a local-option real estate transfer tax in its Affordable Homes Act, the $4.1 billion housing development and policy bill Healey filed last fall.

“I know it’s been controversial in some circles,” Augustus said, referring to real estate trade groups’ criticism that the provision would make it even more expensive to build new housing and could harm downtown Boston property taxes, currently threatening to put the city of Boston’s budget under pressure thanks to falling office property values.

“That will be up to the cities and towns if they decide to opt in. The idea there would be to allow local communities to have revenue at their disposal” to buy lower-priced rental units and make sure they stay affordable in perpetuity, he said. “We’ve got a lot of focus on trying to create and build more affordable units, which is important and necessary. But it’s one thing if we keep trying to fill the bucket and the bucket keeps springing leaks.”