by Jacob Love | Oct 9, 2025 | Featured News, Housing News
Last week, ProPublica reported that the Trump Administration is considering two major rule changes to federal housing programs that could deprive countless families of housing assistance and put them at risk of homelessness.
Both changes would have to undergo a public comment period prior to adoption. But, if allowed to take effect, they would: (1) permit public housing authorities and private landlords to implement work requirements and time limits for residence in public housing and receipt of certain federal housing subsidies (i.e., Housing Choice Vouchers and Project-Based Rental Assistance); and (2) largely prohibit federal housing assistance from going to qualified people—including many American citizens—who happen to live in a home with an ineligible non-citizen (a “mixed-status” home).
While these regulatory reforms would be devastating for countless families with low incomes across the country, including many here in the Bay State, there is still time to push back. CHAPA strongly opposes both proposals and urges the federal government to reject them.
As we grapple with a nationwide affordable housing shortage and sky-high housing costs, our leaders should be championing proven solutions to our housing challenges. That’s why CHAPA works tirelessly on evidence-backed initiatives to boost affordable housing production, expand supportive housing programs, and implement inclusionary zoning reform.
Those are the kinds of policies we need to ensure that everyone in Massachusetts has access to a safe, stable, and affordable home. However, much like the policies propounded in the Administration’s recent executive order on homelessness, the justifications for these new rule changes run counter to the evidence and hinge on false premises.
Experts cited by ProPublica estimate that opening the door to work requirements and time limits could lead to a staggering 4 million people losing housing assistance. Although the Administration has claimed that these kinds of program constraints help generate “self-sufficiency,” a mountain of research supports that work requirements and time limits do not boost employment. The reality is that such constraints will strip vulnerable families of desperately needed assistance, exposing them to housing instability and homelessness without advancing the Administration’s purported underlying goal.
Likewise, HUD predicts that the new mixed-status rule will cause nearly every subsidy recipient in 20,000 mixed-status homes to relinquish their housing assistance to avoid family separation. This will subject thousands of children, many of them American citizens, to the numerous harmful effects of housing instability. The Administration contends that this change is needed to “ensure that only eligible persons receive benefits.” But not only do they point to no evidence that benefits are going to ineligible non-citizens, HUD’s current rules prevent that by prorating subsidies for recipients in mixed-status homes. Put simply, this change will operate to kick many thousands of eligible people out of vital HUD programs to fix a non-existent problem.
Fundamentally, in the midst of our affordable housing crisis, the facts tell us that more people need access to rental assistance, not fewer. CHAPA thus implores the Administration to drop these cruel and shortsighted proposals, which will only serve to hurt vulnerable families. Until that happens, we encourage everyone to join us in formally opposing the rules during the public comment period and vehemently advocating against their implementation.
by Jacob Love | Jul 30, 2025 | Featured News, Housing News
In June, the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities (EOHLC) released draft regulations regarding the Commonwealth’s Starter Home Zoning Districts Program (the “Program”). The Program was originally part of the Smart Growth Zoning statute, G.L. c. 40R, but the Legislature codified it as a separate statute, G.L. c. 40Y, in 2022.
Following the draft regulations’ release, EOHLC noticed a public comment period that ran from June 26 to July 25. CHAPA submitted written feedback to EOHLC on the proposed regulations last Friday. In these comments, we discuss how the Program—which encourages municipalities to zone for more “as of right” development of smaller, entry-level homes—has major potential to expand and diversify the Commonwealth’s housing stock. We also emphasize that the proposed regulations will play a vital role in encouraging municipalities to adopt starter home zoning districts, especially given that the previous iteration of the Program failed to garner meaningful engagement from cities and towns. To avoid that outcome this time, we advise EOHLC to streamline the compliance process and reduce administrative burden on participants.
CHAPA’s comments also applaud two key provisions EOHLC included in the draft regulations: a mandate for clear and flexible building design standards; and a rule permitting municipalities to “incentivize … additional affordability.” These terms will foster development in starter home districts and enable deeper affordability than Chapter 40Y requires, both of which will go a long way toward reducing the harmful effects of the Commonwealth’s housing shortage. The comments conclude by suggesting minor tweaks to these two provisions to make them even stronger and maximize their impact.
CHAPA looks forward to continuing to work with EOHLC and the Healey/Driscoll Administration on the implementation of Chapter 40Y and other efforts to build the homes Massachusetts and its residents need to thrive.
by Jacob Love | Jul 16, 2025 | Featured News, Housing News, Uncategorized
On July 4th, the federal government enacted a taxing and spending bill (the “Bill”) that will have enormous consequences for the American public. The top-line view of the legislation is that it expands and enacts tax cuts that will add trillions of dollars to the National Debt, while imposing historic slashes to safety net programs like Medicaid and SNAP. CHAPA notes that the Bill makes a few significant housing-related policy changes that could have a positive long-term effect on housing affordability. But, in the immediate term, the Bill’s steep rollback of benefits programs will drain vulnerable Bay Staters’ pockets and make the Commonwealth’s sky-high housing costs even more burdensome.
Potential Long-Term Housing Positives
From an affordable housing perspective, the Bill’s most constructive change is its expansion of the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (“LIHTC”) Program. Beginning in 2026:
- There will be a 1.12 multiplier added to the formula for calculating each state’s annual allocation of “9 Percent” LIHTC credits, which will increase the total dollar value of those allocations by 12%; and
- The threshold of public activity bond (“PAB”) financing needed to qualify for “4 Percent” LIHTC credits will drop from 50% to 25%, theoretically allowing states to use their limited annual supply of PABs to ensure more projects qualify for credits.
These changes will increase the resources available to developers for the production and preservation of affordable housing on an annual basis going forward.
On top of LIHTC expansion, the Bill makes permanent two programs that can be used to fund housing development in distressed communities: the Opportunity Zones “OZ” Program and the New Markets Tax Credit “NMTC” Program. These initiatives aim to direct resources into low-income areas by providing tax breaks to people who invest in qualifying business activities, including housing development, in those areas.
The original OZ Program, created in 2017 and set to expire in 2026, allowed governors to designate 25% of low-income census tracts (“LICs”) in their states as OZs. It also said that 5% of designations could be for non-LIC tracts adjacent to LICs. Some early data indicate that OZ financing has flowed heavily toward multi-family developments. But, contrary to the spirit of the Program, evidence also suggests that developments receiving OZ funding are mostly market-rate and concentrated in higher income “adjacent” tracts.
The Bill corrects the latter issue by requiring periodic re-designation of OZs and eliminating the loophole for non-LIC tracts. But it does not build in any affordability requirements for residential projects receiving OZ funding. Including affordability is critical to ensuring that the Program benefits those living in targeted low-income areas.
Finally, the Bill’s extension of the NMTC Program, which was set to expire this year, represents a win for affordable and mixed-use development in underserved communities.
Major Negatives
The financial harm that low-income Americans will experience from the Bill’s provisions, including tax changes and well over a trillion dollars in SNAP and Medicaid cuts over ten years, cannot be overstated. Just to name a few major consequences:
- 11.8 million people will lose their health insurance by 2034, according to an estimate from the Congressional Budget Office;
- 22.3 million families will lose some or all of their monthly SNAP benefits, per an analysis from the Urban Institute; and
- Post-tax incomes for the poorest Americans will fall by nearly $600 per year based on projections from the Yale Budget Lab.
People who struggle to make ends meet will now face more out-of-pocket costs for food and medical care, forcing them to make impossible choices with shoe-string budgets. For Massachusetts residents—who already face a severe housing shortage and extreme rent burdens—this will only exacerbate housing insecurity.
Additionally, the Bill undermines housing affordability by eliminating incentives for green housing production and energy efficiency improvements, and ballooning the National Debt. A higher National Debt can drive up interest rates and inflation, making it more expensive to both build and buy homes.
As things continue to happen rapidly in D.C., we invite everyone to stay up to date by attending CHAPA’s Federal Housing Policy Check-Ins: https://chapa.org/all-events/?event=233980.
