Anne Meczywor

In “Dr. Seuss’s ABC An Amazing Alphabet Book,” Springfield-born author Theodor Seuss Geisel begins with a question: “Big A, little a, what begins with A?” If he were writing this book today, instead of writing an answer that had to do with alligators, he very well could have written “Affordable” and “affordable.” While the only difference is a capital letter and a lower-case letter, they represent two things that the Massachusetts Association of Realtors (MAR) has been working hard to protect and increase for years; homes that are affordable and affordable housing. 

Each and every month MAR issues sales data that includes the number of homes available for sale. In fact, February marked the 84th time in the last 85 months that monthly year-over-year inventory (i.e. February 2019 versus February 2018) has gone down. It’s also the fewest number of homes available in any February since MAR began tracking the data. This lack of homes for sale is pushing prices up and making homes less affordable. 

Stopping Threats to Little ‘A’ Affordable 

The best solution for bringing home prices down is to increase housing production. Simply put, we need to build more. However, in our home rule state, there are 351 cities and towns with 351 different sets of zoning rules and regulations that makes it very difficult. To help meet this need, MAR has filed the HOME bill (An Act Improving Housing Opportunities and the Massachusetts Economy) that helps increase production by allowing accessory dwelling units by right (ADUs), multi-family housing by right, and cluster development. In addition, MAR and other real estate groups have joined together with the Massachusetts Municipal Association to support Gov. Charlie Baker’s Housing Choice Initiative, which will make it easier to get approval to build more housing. 

In addition to proposing legislation that will make housing production easier, Realtors are fighting another battle across the state; transfer taxes. If passed, transfer taxes will make buying a home more expensive. Also called sales taxes on homes, these do one of two things: They increase the cost of a home to the buyer, or strip hard-earned equity from the seller. 

One of the many problems with transfer taxes is that the revenue goes to pay for a community-wide need but is only paid for by the small number homebuyers and sellers. By definition, a community-wide need should be paid for by the community. The other problem is that transfer taxes are an unreliable source of funding, and while the current market is very good, inevitably it will go down.  

The irony of many proposed transfer taxes has to do with what they’re proposed for, and that’s funding deed-restricted or subsidized affordable housing. They make housing more expensive to pay for “Big A” affordable housing.    

Supporting Creation of Big ‘A’ Affordable 

In 1969, the Massachusetts legislature passed Chapter 40B, the Comprehensive Permit Law, to help address the shortage of affordable housing statewide. The law works by reducing barriers to affordable housing by using a flexible permitting process for developments that have at least 20-25 percent of their units designated as affordable. Once a community has at least 10 percent of its total housing stock designated as affordable, then it is in compliance with the law. 

Since the law was enacted, it has been responsible for producing over 58,000 units of housing for both renters and owners. Despite this success, opposition to Chapter 40B still exists. And in 2010 the opposition, The Coalition to Repeal 40B, was successful in gathering enough signatures to create a ballot initiative to repeal the law. 

MAR and our members came out in force to protect 40B. Both members and leadership volunteered their time advocating to keep this important law. MAR was more than just a vocal member of the Campaign to Protect Affordable Housing; MAR contributed over $100,000 to the campaign. Because Realtors across the country support Affordable Housing, the National Association of Realtors contributed an additional $100,000.  

Realtors fought to preserve Chapter 40B in 2010 and that fight continues today. Since the victory, Realtors have testified before the state legislature any time there have been proposals to weaken or repeal 40B. And Realtors will continue to do so into the future.  

Having a strong and vibrant community requires a good selection of houses for sale and apartments for rent at all income levels. When there is not enough housing that is “Big A” affordable and not enough housing that is “little a” affordable, then Massachusetts’ long-term success is at risk. 

Anne Meczywor is the 2019 president of the Massachusetts Association of Realtors and a broker/associate with Lenox-based Roberts & Associates Realty Inc.