The multi-family zoning requirements on communities near Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) service are the highest-profile state efforts to influence local zoning, but a committee heard another proposal Tuesday in the long-running quest to stir housing production: up the financial incentives for communities that zone to allow starter homes.
“There’s a big need for housing, as we all know. And when the millionaire’s supposed tax passed, they thought every millionaire would be running for the hills,” said Sen. Michael Brady, D-Brockton. “Some did move to Florida because they planned on that anyway, but the biggest difficulty is, I’m hearing, is from young families that cannot afford to find an apartment or afford to buy a house in the commonwealth.”
Brady and the rest of the Joint Committee on Community Development and Small Business heard testimony Tuesday in support of legislation that aims at starter homes — those that have at least three bedrooms and are no larger than 1,850 square feet of heated living area — in a bid to make homeownership more accessible and affordable, particularly for first-time homebuyers.
Benjamin Fierro, an attorney and lobbyist who represents the Home Builders & Remodelers Association of Massachusetts, said the issue dates back to 2004 Romney-era law (Chapter 40R, the so-called Smart Growth Zoning and Housing Production Act) under which the state provides financial incentives to cities and towns to create certain zoning districts, both up-front money and payments for each unit of housing for which a building permit was issued.
The law was updated under the Baker administration to include starter homes, but Fierro said “the problem with that law was that the single-family homes had to be built in so-called Smart Growth locations. Well, the reality is [that] land is too valuable to try to put single-family homes.”
Bills filed by Sen. Paul Feeney and Rep. David Vieira (S.176/H.313) would double the financial incentives for cities and towns with a starter home zoning district “so that instead of getting $3,000 for every single unit of housing, they would get $6,000. The financial incentives would go from a minimum of $10,000 to $20,000 and so on,” Fierro said.
Neily Soto, a Methuen city councilor who is also executive director of the Massachusetts Housing Coalition, said her organization also supports the Feeney/Vieira legislation.
“Perhaps most importantly, these zoning payments and the per-unit incentive do not go to developers. They are directly funding sources for our community. In my opinion, that’s a win-win,” she said. “They address the costs that arise with a growing population, and enable municipalities to invest more in infrastructure, which has often been a point of contention with the new housing projects.”