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.
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.
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.
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.
