CHAPA is hiring an additional Municipal Engagement Program Associate. The Municipal Engagement Program Associate will work to build support for affordable housing production and bolster efforts to expand housing opportunities at the local level in communities across the Commonwealth.
Please find more details and how to apply on our Jobs Board posting. Applications are due by January 6, 2023.
On November 18th, Governor Baker filed a Supplemental budget H.5394 to provide housing and other necessary services for refugees and migrants. The arrival of refugees and migrants from countries like Afghanistan, Haiti, Venezuela, and Ukraine has led to increased demand for emergency shelters in Massachusetts. The Governor proposes establishing a reserve of $130 million through the supplemental budget for increased shelter capacity, healthcare costs, and services across all state agencies responding to the increased need.
Massachusetts is a right-to-shelter state and provides shelter to all individuals and families eligible. In addition to the $20 million reserve allocated through the recently passed Economic Development bill, the supplemental budget proposes to:
The budget bill also includes $37 million of the reserve for local school districts through the next two school years for student aid and authorization for the transfer of funds between EA and HomeBASE programs. For more information, see the Governor’s letter to the Legislature on the Supplemental Budget.
The Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) released its Compliance Model for estimating the key zoning metrics required under Section 3A of the Zoning Act, which requires communities served by the MBTA to have at least one reasonably sized zoning district where multifamily housing is allowed by-right.
There are several zoning requirements in Section 3A related to district size and location, multi-family unit capacity, gross density, and other benchmarks. The compliance model ensures a standard way of evaluating and estimating multi-family zoning districts on these metrics across all MBTA communities.
According to DHCD, the compliance model was developed to create reasonable estimates that can be used to verify compliance with Section 3A. It is not intended to be as rigorous as a full, detailed build out analysis. Therefore, while the outputs from the model provide good estimates relative to the compliance metrics, they do not provide absolute measures of development potential. The development of the model was completed with the input and assistance of consultants and other experts and key stakeholders.
There is technical assistance available for municipalities seeking support as they use the model. Additional resources, guides, and examples will be posted to DHCD’s website as they become available.
Also available are the necessary land maps for every MBTA community, a compliance model user guide, and a sources and methodology explainer.
Finally, there are several reference layers available for download that are essential for calculations or helpful as references for those tasked with operating the model.
On November 10, Governor Baker signed the Economic Development Bill into law. The Legislature sent the Governor a final bill on November 2, after months of delay following the end of the legislative session this summer. The Governor vetoed only $1.1 million from the $3.76 billion bill and several outside sections.
The Governor left in place all the affordable housing related spending and policy sections in the bill. This includes:
CHAPA thanks Governor Baker for signing the bill and including these critical resources.
On November 2, a final Economic Development Bill (H.5374) emerged from its conference committee in the state Legislature. Uncertainty caused by an obscure tax rebate law triggered by stronger-than-expected tax collections delayed the bill’s progress since the end of formal legislative sessions on July 31, 2022.
The conference committee presented a slimmed down Economic Development Bill compared to the versions passed earlier this year by the House and Senate. The final bill dropped certain tax relief proposals and any capital spending approvals.
The House is expected to unanimously approve the bill on November 3 followed by the Senate before sending it to the Governor for his signature or vetoes.
There’s nearly $450 million from state funds and American Rescue Plan Act Fiscal Recovery Funds invested into housing programs, including for homeownership production, workforce housing, ELI housing, refugee assistance, acquisition, the CPA, and for an equitable developers fund.
The final bill also contains CHAPA’s top legislative priority on public housing redevelopment. The bill will exempt public housing redevelopment projects from the filed sub-bid requirements of our public construction laws. This is a critical step forward for preserving the state’s public housing!
Unfortunately, not all of our priorities made it into the final Economic Development Bill. The bill does not contain capital reauthorizations for affordable housing programs. The Legislature also dropped language that would have permitted Accessory Dwelling Units by-right in every city and town and language to seal certain eviction records. CHAPA will continue to work on securing these policies and resources as we begin the next legislative session in 2023.
CHAPA thanks Speaker Mariano, Senate President Spilka, House Ways and Means Chair Michlewitz, Senate Ways and Means Chair Rodrigues, and other members of the conference committee for their commitment to affordable housing. Thanks also to the entire House and Senate.
| Homeownership Production | Funds for CommonWealth Builder Program to support production of affordable homeownership opportunities in socially disadvantaged communities | $100,000,000 |
| Workforce Housing | Funds for workforce housing to create housing for incomes from 60–120% of the Area Median Income | $150,000,000 |
| Affordable Housing Trust Fund | Funds to support production and preservation of rental homes affordable to very low- and extremely low-income households | $100,000,000 |
| Acquisition | Funds for Small Properties Acquisition Funding Pilot to acquire of 1–8 unit residential buildings for affordable housing | $1,000,000 |
| Community Preservation Trust Fund | Transfer to the state’s Community Preservation Trust Fund | $20,000,000 |
| Equitable Developer’s Fund | Reserve for equitable developers’ financing program. Projects must be in a Gateway City, qualified census tract, or community disproportionately impacted by COVID. The developer/sponsor must be controlled by someone who has been socially or economically disadvantaged or disproportionately impacted by COVID. To be administered by MassHousing and/or MassDevelopment | $50,000,000 |
| Immigration & Refugee Assistance | Funds to address the needs of immigrants and refugees to streamline access to shelter, housing, legal services, food, health care and additional support services for newly arrived immigrant families and individuals | $20,000,000 |
| Low Threshold Housing for the Homeless | Funds for Health and Human Services to establish a regional low threshold housing for homeless or housing unstable individuals with substance use disorder | $25,000,000 |
| Filed Sub-Bid Exemption | Exempts public housing redevelopment projects from ch. 149 filed sub-bid requirements but does not relieve such redevelopment from prevailing wage |
| Long Term Lease & Disposition | Clarifies that an LHA’s power to undertake the disposition of property includes a disposition by a means other than sale (e.g., long-term lease) |
| Findings for Disposition | Revises the findings that DHCD must make to approve a sale or disposition of a public housing project to create greater opportunity for redevelopment of existing public housing, while adding a requirement for one-for-one replacement |
| Procuring Redevelopment Partners | Adds provisions permitting LHAs to procure developer partners for redevelopment projects through a competitive, qualifications-based procurement process that will allow the disposition of property to the selected developer without having to go through a separate land disposition process. |
| Retaining Proceeds | Allows LHAs to retain the proceeds of the sale of any housing authority land for the purpose of rehabilitating other LHA property |
| Conditions for Redevelopment | Requires, as a condition of sale or disposition of an existing housing project, that the redevelopment partner enter into a binding land use restriction, requiring compliance with public housing restrictions with respect to replacement units in perpetuity, except in limited circumstances for projects utilizing federal low income housing tax credits. |
We are pleased to announce that CHAPA is currently seeking additional communities on a rolling basis for our MEI Lite Program, a lighter touch program of our Municipal Engagement Initiative, that will help to set communities up for coalition building efforts on their own. Municipal governments and community organizations throughout the Commonwealth are encouraged to submit an application.
Applicants must submit an electronic copy of the application to Dana LeWinter, Director of Municipal Engagement, at dlewinter@chapa.org. Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis and may be prioritized based on when they are received or community fit.
To learn more about the eligibility criteria, go to https://www.chapa.org/about/programs/municipal-engagement-initiative