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BOSTON (State House News Service) — Gov. Maura Healey will sign the policy-filled $5.16 billion housing bond bill that lawmakers sent to her desk last week in Newton on Tuesday morning, her office said.
The governor's office called the bill, which returned to the governor's desk without many of the policies that either she included in her original filing or lawmakers added during their consideration of it, "the most ambitious legislation in Massachusetts history to tackle the state's greatest challenge – housing costs."
Healey will be joined by Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll, Housing & Livable Communities Secretary Ed Augustus, Administration & Finance Secretary Matt Gorzkowicz, Newton Mayor Ruthanne Fuller, and other state and local officials as she signs the bill at 10 a.m. Tuesday. The signing ceremony will be held at Golda Meir House on Stanton Avenue in Newton.
Housing in Massachusetts is inaccessible or unaffordable for many residents. Healey last year identified housing as "the number one issue facing this state" and said there is a shortage of 200,000 units across the state.
The bill that lawmakers sent Healey early Thursday morning authorizes more borrowing than Healey sought in her original filing last fall, but the state cannot actually borrow all that it is authorized to. The administration's latest plan for actual capital spending dedicates $2 billion for housing over the next five years, and $400 million in fiscal 2025.
Written by Colin A. Young/SHNS
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