BOSTON (State House News Service) — The Milton voters who rejected a zoning plan that complied with a 2021 law meant to encourage badly needed housing production "chose to be part of the problem rather than the solution," Attorney General Andrea Campbell said as she and the Healey administration pledged to enforce the law.
The town "will begin losing out on significant grant funding from the state" as a result of Wednesday's town vote, the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities said on social media. The statement added that Gov. Maura Healey's administration was "deeply disappointed" that the Boston suburb's zoning plan was rejected. Campbell similarly said online that she was "disappointed that a select group of Milton residents chose to be part of the problem rather than the solution to our housing affordability crisis."
The so-called MBTA Communities Act requires that 177 cities and towns that host or are adjacent to T service have at least one zoning district in which denser, multi-family housing is allowed as of right. Towns that don't comply with the law are not eligible for three significant state grant programs: MassWorks, the Housing Choice Initiative and the Local Capital Projects Fund. The Healey administration and Campbell have made clear for months they would follow through on withholding funds from non-compliant municipalities, including as recently as this week, when the governor urged town voters to back the plan.
"While we are hopeful that we can work with the town to put forward a new plan that would bring them into compliance with the #MBTACommunitiesLaw, at this time they are non-compliant, which means they will begin losing out on significant grant funding from the state," Housing Secretary Ed Augustus' office said Wednesday night. "We are grateful to the 175 communities that are in compliance with the law for recognizing that we all have a role to play in addressing our state’s housing challenges."
The Worcester suburb of Holden is also non-compliant with the law. In December, a Superior Court judge dismissed a lawsuit brought against the town by the Central Massachusetts Housing Alliance for its refusal to comply, according to the Telegram & Gazette.
"When a municipality elects to evade its responsibility to comply with the law, we will meet our responsibility to enforce the law," Campbell said.
Written by Colin A. Young/SHNS.
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