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As the state seeks to address its critical housing shortage, 29 communities received a designation Monday that provides them access to grants aimed at spurring production.
The state now counts 92 total Housing Choice Communities, including 27 Rural and Small Town Housing Choice Communities, according to the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities. For the first time, every county in the state has at least one designated community.
The designation lasts for five years, but communities may reapply for it, according a EOHLC spokesperson. Sixteen communities – most of which are rural and small towns – were designated Monday and the remaining 13 communities were due to reapply this year or already had an expired designation.
Fourteen rural and small town communities had qualified for the Housing Choice program before the rural and small town category was created in December, according to a EOHLC spokesperson. Two of them – Great Barrington and Lincoln – were redesignated Monday and 13 rural and small towns were newly designated.
The rural and small town category was crafted in response to feedback to make sure communities of all sizes can get easier access to housing production assistance. Municipalities with a population of 7,000 or fewer year-round and less than 500 people per square mile qualify as a rural and small town.
Designated communities get exclusive access to apply for the Housing Choice Grant Program, a state program created in 2018 that offers funds and assistance to municipalities that are building homes and addressing planning and zoning barriers to production. The designated communities also get benefits through other state programs including those that help with acquisition of conservation and recreation land, offer grants for infrastructure improvements to support economic development and housing production as well as programs that provide interest loans for water pollution abatement and drinking water infrastructure projects.
Since the program’s start, designated communities have built 79 percent of all homes in the state, including 71 percent of homes been built in the past five years, according to EOHLC. The 29 newly or redesignated communities have produced 8,696 units and implemented policies that helped earn their designation in the past five years.
Among the newly designated communities are: Bolton, Edgartown, Gill, Lynn and Wellesley and Westport.
