
Healey Housing Bond Clears First Committee
Gov. Maura Healey’s sweeping, $4.1 billion housing bond bill is moving forward in the legislative pipeline – so far without changes.
Gov. Maura Healey’s sweeping, $4.1 billion housing bond bill is moving forward in the legislative pipeline – so far without changes.
Advocates took to Beacon Hill on Tuesday to try to convince lawmakers to advance a policy to limit rent hikes, while real estate industry leaders decried the idea as counterproductive, but there seems to be little appetite on Beacon Hill to revisit the idea.
Low-income tenants who are at risk of being evicted could gain access to free legal representation, the state rental voucher program could be written into law and apartment de-leading could be given a boost under bills heard on Beacon Hill Wednesday.
The legislature’s Joint Committee on Housing is in no rush to consider Boston’s plan, which aims to tackle a housing affordability crisis that is afflicting cities and towns throughout the state.
With a new legislative session has come new leadership to the state legislature’s Joint Committee on Housing: Sen. Lydia Edwards. She’s just starting her first full term, but she’s already established herself as a housing policy leader among her colleagues on Beacon Hill.
A Beacon Hill committee has endorsed two bills that would clear the way for rent control to return to Massachusetts more than two and a half decades after voters narrowly banned the practice statewide.
The Housing Committee plans to accept written testimony on Thursday on a bill that would authorize state- and city- level freezes on rent increases during the COVID-19 state of emergency.
As the state’s housing crunch rages on, opinion at Tuesday’s hearing on key zoning reform legislation is still split over whether the bill goes far enough to help those most affected by the situation.
Ahead of a hearing next week on housing production bills, a coalition is speaking out on Gov. Charlie Baker’s proposal, saying it doesn’t do enough to help those hardest hit by the housing crisis.
A bill at the center of Gov. Charlie Baker’s plan to address the state’s housing crisis, that would make it easier for towns to rezone areas for housing construction, is moving forward on Beacon Hill after failing to pass in the last legislative session.
Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito and others in the Baker administration to continue to try to build public support for a proposal to make housing-friendly zoning easier to pass. The legislature’s timeline for considering the measure, however, remains unclear.