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BOSTON (State House News Service) - Gov. Maura Healey took her "affordability agenda" on the road Tuesday, bringing administration officials and legislative supporters along to talk about how provisions of the state budget and tax package she has signed are meant to help people around Massachusetts deal with high costs of housing and just about everything else, and to drum up support for the policy-heavy $4.1 billion housing bill she proposed last week.
"This is about lowering costs. People can't afford it. You can't afford groceries. You can't afford the electric bill. You can't afford gas. You can't afford clothes. You know, it's harder and harder. I know that, we know that. And part of what we're trying to do as an administration is do everything we can do to make life more affordable. And there's no area where we need it more critically than in housing," Healey said Tuesday afternoon in Attleboro.
The governor's five-year, $4.12 billion housing bond bill (H 4138) seeks to kickstart production of new housing units, upgrade the state's aging and neglected public housing stock, and convert state land into housing-ready plots. It is also packed with policy proposals, including the ability for cities and towns to impose a new fee on high-price real estate transactions and steer the revenue into affordable housing development, a new simple majority voting threshold for inclusionary zoning ordinances and bylaws at the local level, a new designation for "seasonal communities" and a raft of changes for the public housing sector.
Earlier Tuesday, during a stop in Yarmouth, the governor said she is "going to be talking about this all day long, every week and every month till we get this done, because it's the number one issue facing not just the Cape, but the number one issue facing this state."
The state's housing shortage and affordability issues topped the list of issues that voters most want the governor and Legislature to address in the coming year, according to new poll results.
Thirty-one percent chose that topic, according to the WCVB/UMass Amherst poll taken this month of 700 Massachusetts adults, followed by immigration (12 percent), homelessness (11 percent), climate change (9 percent), transportation and infrastructure (9 percent), health care (9 percent), taxes (8 percent), and crime (8 percent).
In Attleboro, the governor checked out several downtown housing developments, including projects supported by state programs expanded in the tax package or proposed to be expanded in Healey's housing bill. They include the Housing Development Incentive Program, which offers tax credits aimed at boosting production of housing units especially in smaller cities, the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit that was increased from $40 million a year to $60 million a year in the tax package, and the Housing Stabilization Fund, which the governor has proposed increasing in the housing bond bill she filed last week.
"We're proud that state programs play a role in helping to make these kinds of developments possible and we are grateful for all the ways in which Attleboro is engaging with state programs and finding ways to create affordable homes. We're here today to talk about investing in and expanding these same programs and some new programs. We want to create more affordable homes and livable communities around the state," Healey said. "Look, you know I have said from the outset that this team, our administration, we're focused on three things, affordability, competitiveness, and equity, OK? And that's what the housing bond bill does, it advances all three of those things. And all three of those things are super, super important."
Reps. James Hawkins of Attleboro, Adam Scanlon of North Attleborough and Carol Doherty of Taunton joined Healey in Attleboro on Tuesday, as did Mayor Cathleen DeSimone and other city officials. DeSimone, who won the special election earlier this year to succeed former Rep. Paul Heroux as mayor of the Jewelry City, said out-of-reach housing costs were a consideration when she decided to run.
"As Attleboro evolves from being a former jewelry capital of the world into a diverse and thriving education-centered community, we need housing of all kinds to ensure our continued growth and success," she said. The mayor added, "In fact, one of the main reasons I ran for mayor is because I'm concerned that my kids and many young people in the city may not be able to buy a home in the city where they were born. I'm concerned because I get phone calls from senior citizens living in cars because they can't find a place to live. I get phone calls from families who are forced out of the apartment or home they are renting because, overnight, the landlord has just about doubled their rent."
Healey, who has made Massachusetts' competitive standing with other states a point of emphasis in her first year in office, told her downtown Attleboro audience Tuesday that while "some of you pop over to Rhode Island," she doesn't want anyone moving across the nearby state border.
"It's nice to visit. You can shop there, you can have a meal, you can go gamble, whatever. But I want you living here in Massachusetts, I want you raising your families in Massachusetts, I want you growing businesses in Massachusetts," the governor said. "But that's going to happen if we make life more affordable and that's why this housing bill is so important."
On the Cape, the governor toured Yarmouth Gardens, a development on Route 28 that will offer 40 affordable apartment rentals. It is supported by the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program, and by the Affordable Housing Trust Fund, which the governor has proposed increasing in her $4.1 billion housing bond bill.
Housing & Livable Communities Secretary Ed Augustus said the Yarmouth Gardens project "is a shining example" of state programs at work. He said the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program provided more than $1.3 million in credits and the Affordable Housing Trust Fund provided another $1.8 million.
"This is housing that can change people's lives. It's family friendly; it's convenient, located next to shopping, dining and recreational opportunities; kids will have access to a playground; and the bus stop; and plentiful parking. It's the kind of place that any of us would be proud to call home and we need a lot more of it," Augustus said. "There's a waitlist of 450 households for Yarmouth Gardens. That alone underscores how important this work is that we're doing to build more and to build it faster."
One provision of Healey's massive $4.1 billion housing bond and policy bill got a particularly warm welcome Tuesday morning on Cape Cod: language that would give municipalities the ability to adopt a local option transfer tax on high-dollar real estate transactions to raise revenue for affordable housing initiatives.
Healey recognized Sen. Julian Cyr of Truro for his leadership on the transfer tax issue and the senator led an enthusiastic round of applause for the policy proposal.
"Y'all better be clapping for this, this is a huge deal!" Cyr said.
When Cyr took his own turn at the podium in Yarmouth, he said that while the needs of Cape Cod and the Islands are often "seen as quite secondary to that of Boston and Greater Boston," Healey's housing bill shows that the administration is listening to residents and communities in the region "who are crying out for the ability to have a local option transfer fee on luxury real estate so we can harness the absolutely out of control real estate market that we've had and seen particularly post pandemic and put those dollars to work here."
"The governor has had our back on this issue. This is not an easy issue; there are opponents on this issue. What I need from all of you and our municipal friends here -- the islands and Nantucket have passed home rules; Chatham's in the house, they've passed a home rule; Truro's in the house, they've passed a home rule -- I want to see home rules on transfer fees on spring town meeting warrants across the Cape and Islands showing our support for this policy," Cyr said. "I want you all to sink your teeth into the fact that we have got to move housing policy forward. This is not a problem that we can just solve on Beacon Hill, for better or for worse."
The idea of assessing an additional fee on properties that sell for $1 million or more (Healey's bill proposes to set the threshold at the greater of $1 million or the median single-family home sales price for the county) is particularly appealing to places like Cape Cod, where lavish seaside homes sell for astronomical prices but affordable housing to support the region's workforce is exceedingly hard to come by.
Bills imposing new fees on higher-dollar housing transactions to pay for affordable housing investments have been proposed for years, but have never gained much traction among Democratic legislative leaders. And real estate industry officials have long opposed transfer tax bills, arguing against making costs even higher for buyers.
Written By Colin A. Young/SHNS
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