As Gov. Maura Healey and lawmakers celebrated what they called “historic” housing legislation getting signed into law Tuesday, some of the advocates credited with influencing the bill say it is “underwhelming.”
A notable provision: A $13 million allocation for a Davis Cos. residential development in Allston as part of a “momentum fund” to help get approved developments off the ground.
Each of the high-profile bills Beacon Hill passed or failed to pass last week deserved public scrutiny and debate, including votes at normal times open for all the public to see.
House and Senate negotiators filed an early-morning agreement on a policy-filled $5.16 billion housing bond bill Thursday, potentially salvaging a priority for the House, Senate and Gov. Maura Healey.
House and Senate negotiators face an end-of-July deadline to agree on a compromise housing policy-and-funding bill before the legislature goes on break for the rest of the year.
State senators Thursday night unanimously passed their version of Gov. Maura Healey’s landmark housing bond bill, which would authorize $5.4 billion in borrowing to spur housing production, without including a controversial measure to tax high-end real estate sales to fund affordable housing.
After the idea of allowing local option real estate transfer taxes statewide was excluded from the Senate Ways and Means Committee’s housing bill, four senators have filed nine proposals to revive the measure during Senate debate Thursday on a $5.1 billion bond bill.
In a major win for the real estate lobby, leaders in the state Senate opted to leave out Gov. Maura Healey’s proposal to allow local-option real estate transfer fees on high-dollar property sales to fund affordable housing.
Senate Democrats seek to authorize more than $5 billion in borrowing to spur housing production in a bill that would make a number of policy changes to Massachusetts’ housing laws, but leaves the much-discussed proposal to allow communities to tax high-value real estate transactions to pay for affordable housing on the cutting room floor.
House of Representatives leaders didn’t just add several billion dollars of additional housing funding to Gov. Maura Healey’s big bonding-and-policy bill earlier this month. They also added a measure anathema to real estate trade groups.
Senate President Karen Spilka indicated Monday that the Senate will take up its version of a major housing policy and borrowing bill next week, but she declined to give any indication whether her chamber will include in its bill the local-option transfer tax that Gov. Maura Healey proposed but was left out of the bill passed by the House.
Nearly 18 months after legislative leaders kicked off the two-year term by identifying sky-high housing costs as one of their chief areas of focus, the Massachusetts House stamped its approval on a $6.5 billion plan that top Democrats believe will begin to unwind decades of sluggish production.
Supporters of transfer fees on property transactions to raise money for housing have a huge barrier to overcome now that top House Democrats have made clear they do not support the idea, but they still have the governor on their side and there are a few routes that they could take in the state legislature.
House Democrats will seek a vote this week on a bill that combines $6.2 billion in state borrowing and tax credits with policy reforms designed to unlock new housing production, including allowing accessory dwelling units by-right statewide.
Leaders in the state House of Representatives have released their version of Gov. Maura Healey’s $4.1 billion housing finance and policy bill, and included a major change.
A 2017 law then seen as groundbreaking hardly generated few new homes. It left too much room for local officials to create hidden roadblocks, experts in New Hampshire say.
If the late-night outpouring of emotion about a single budget amendment is any indication, Beacon Hill could be in for a doozy of a debate whenever top Democrats get around to a major housing bill this summer.
The latest proposal to let municipalities establish new, local-option sales taxes on real estate sales continues to be a bad idea. State legislators should strip the measure from Gov. Maura Healey’s housing bill until its problems can be remedied.
After saying he was open to considering a local-option tax on high-value property sales to fund affordable housing, House Speaker Ron Mariano said he doesn’t know if the policy is a solution to the state’s housing woes.
With housing debates finally nearing on Beacon Hill, a major real estate industry group will attempt to rally opposition against potential new fees on high-value property sales through a concentrated campaign, and its leaders plan to spend “what is necessary” on the effort.
