by iwd Tina | Feb 25, 2021 | Housing News
It’s a brand new legislative session, and CHAPA staff are already hard at work putting together CHAPA’s legislative agenda for 2021-2022. In the meantime, we need your help in asking your legislators to show their support for affordable housing priorities this session.
Please email or call your State Representative and Senator TODAY to ask them to co-sponsor CHAPA’s legislative priorities below for affordable housing, community development, and homelessness prevention!
These priorities will help us recover from the impacts of COVID-19 while moving forward on long-term solutions to the affordable housing challenges we were facing long before the pandemic. The legislation will create more affordable housing, restore our public housing, promote fair housing, raise resources for affordable housing, and protect tenants facing eviction.
As always, thank you for your advocacy. We will have more details for you on our full legislative agenda soon. Be sure to keep an eye out for an invitation to our Virtual Housing Day in the spring too!
You can use the following script in your message to your State Representative and State Senator:
As your constituent, I ask that you please co-sponsor the following bills related to affordable housing, community development, and homelessness prevention. This legislation will help us begin to recover from the virus while also moving forward on long-term solutions to the tremendous affordable housing challenges we were facing long before the pandemic. We need to pass these bills this session to help everyone have a safe, healthy, and affordable home. Thank you!
HOUSING PRODUCTION (HD.3945 & SD.2313)
Sponsors: Reps. Honan & Vargas and Sen. Crighton
Increases affordable housing production, removes restrictive zoning barriers, and proposes innovative land-use solutions to create more affordable housing.
RESTORING PUBLIC HOUSING (HD.3891 & SD.2469)
Sponsors: Rep. Honan and Sen. Crighton
Helps restore our state’s public housing by allowing housing authorities to leverage new and additional resources for rehabilitation and redevelopment.
PROHIBITING EXCLUSIONARY ZONING (HD.1990 & SD.2200)
Sponsors: Rep. Barber and Sen. Chang-Diaz
Prohibits restrictive land use, zoning, and permitting decisions that perpetuate segregation.
AFFIRMATIVELY FURTHERING FAIR HOUSING (HD.3733 & SD.1990)
Sponsors: Reps. Dave Rogers & Santiago and Sen. Boncore
Creates a statewide duty to affirmatively further fair housing and create inclusive communities.
FAIR HOUSING DISPARATE IMPACT STANDARD (HD.3669 & SD.1765)
Sponsors: Rep. Dave Rogers and Sen. Boncore
Creates a statewide disparate impact standard to protect people against housing discrimination.
STRENGTHENING MRVP (HD.3277 & SD.1899)
Sponsors: Rep. Madaro and Sen. Lovely
Strengthens the Massachusetts Rental Voucher Program (MRVP) by codifying the program and making improvements.
REVENUE FOR AFFORDABLE HOUSING & CLIMATE (HD.1252 & SD.611)
Sponsors: Rep. Elugardo and Sen. Eldridge
Increases the deeds excise tax on the sale of real property and dedicates the revenue towards affordable housing and climate sustainability.
RIGHT TO COUNSEL FOR EVICTIONS (HD.2441 & SD.1906)
Sponsors: Reps. Day & Dave Rogers and Sen. DiDomenico
Provides legal representation for low-income tenants and owner-occupants in eviction proceedings.
EVICTION RECORD SEALING (HD.1899 & SD.798)
Sponsors: Rep. Mike Moran and Sen. Boncore
Seals certain eviction records to protect tenants if there is no judgment against them or if they were not evicted.
REDUCING CPA RECORDING FEES FOR AFFORDABLE HOUSING (HD.1851)
Sponsors: Rep. Ferrante
Reduces CPA recording fees for affordable housing.
by iwd Tina | Feb 22, 2021 | Housing News
On Monday, February 22nd, the United States Department of the Treasury (Treasury) released a revised frequently asked questions (FAQ) document for the implementation of the Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) program that was created in the year-end federal stimulus package. The guidance includes some of the following provisions:
- Updates the original FAQ issued by the Treasury by allowing grantees to use self-attestations to verify income and other eligibility requirements.
- Details the definition of “other expenses,” which allows ERA dollars to be used for expenses related to housing incurred due, directly or indirectly, to the COVID-19 outbreak. The definition now includes relocation expenses, rental fees, accrued late fees and home internet expenses.
- Allows for eligible applicants that receive Housing Choice Vouchers or other federal housing subsidies to use ERA assistance for the unsubsidized portions of their rent and utility payments.
Massachusetts received a total ERA allocation of $457,129,720.30. Of this total, the City of Boston received $20,670,810.00, Plymouth County received $15,555,396.40, and the State received $420,903,513.90.
by iwd Tina | Feb 18, 2021 | Housing News
Despite this challenging year, CHAPA was able to successfully pivot our work to advance our legislative and budget priorities, in addition to addressing the housing impacts of the pandemic. Check out our 2020 Annual Report for all of last year’s accomplishments, including our policy and program work.
Thank you to everyone who made these accomplishments possible. We are proud of how the affordable housing community came together this year to ensure everyone had a safe, healthy, and affordable home, yet we know there is more work to be done to continue to address the housing crisis and to do so equitably. We look forward to a collaborative, productive 2021 and hope you’ll continue to join us through our Policy Committees, advocacy efforts, Young Professionals Network, Municipal Engagement Initiative, and more.
by iwd Tina | Feb 15, 2021 | Housing News
On February 12, 2021, Speaker Mariano and Senate President Spilka announced their leadership and committee assignments for the two-year legislative session. These assignments will allow the work to begin reviewing all the bills that have been filed in the House and Senate.
Representative James Arciero and Senator John Keenan will chair the Joint Committee on Housing. Rep. Arciero’s district includes Westford, Littleton, and Chelmsford. Sen. Keenan represents Quincy, Braintree, Holbrook, Abington, and Rockland.
Longtime chair of the Housing Committee, Representative Kevin Honan, will now lead the House Committee on Steering, Policy, and Scheduling. Rep. Honan also recently became the Dean of the House as the body’s longest serving member. Senator Crighton, the former Senate chair of the Housing Committee will now lead the Joint Committee on Financial Services.
On the House side, the other members of the Joint Committee on Housing include Representatives:
In the Senate, Housing Committee members include Senators:
CHAPA looks forward to working with the new Chairs and members of the Housing Committee this session on advancing affordable housing policies.
by iwd Tina | Feb 1, 2021 | Housing News
On January 29, 2021, the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) issued preliminary guidance for MBTA communities regarding compliance with new law requiring by-right multifamily zoning (M.G.L. Chapter 40A, Section 3A). The purpose of section 3A is to encourage MBTA communities to adopt zoning districts where multifamily zoning is permitted as of right, and that meet other requirements set forth in the statute.
New section 3A of the Zoning Act provides that each MBTA community “shall have a zoning ordinance or by-law that provides for at least 1 district of reasonable size in which multi-family housing is permitted as of right.” The statute further provides “that such multi-family housing shall be without age restrictions and shall be suitable for families with children,” and that each such district “shall: (i) have a minimum gross density of 15 units per acre, subject to any further limitations imposed by section 40 of chapter 131 and title 5 of the state environmental code established pursuant to section 13 of chapter 21A; and (ii) be located not more than 0.5 miles from a commuter rail station, subway station, ferry terminal or bus station, if applicable.”
If an MBTA community does not comply with section 3A, it will not be eligible for funds from the following grant programs: (i) the Housing Choice Initiative as described by the governor in a message to the general court dated December 11, 2017; (ii) the Local Capital Projects Fund established in section 2EEEE of chapter 29; or (iii) the MassWorks infrastructure program established in section 63 of chapter 23A.
This preliminary guidance is to inform MBTA communities about the process DHCD will undertake to establish compliance criteria for section 3A, and to notify MBTA communities that they will remain eligible for grant programs administered by the Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development or its agencies until more detailed compliance criteria and guidelines have been issued.
DHCD intends to issue more detailed guidelines on compliance criteria and timelines after consulting with the MBTA and the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, as required by the statute. DHCD expects to seek and consider input from affected MBTA communities as well. DHCD will begin this consultation process promptly and expects to have more complete guidance available as soon as possible.
Based on information currently available, DHCD expects that some MBTA communities already have zoning districts that meet the statutory criteria, while others will need to enact new zoning. DHCD anticipates that its compliance guidelines will account for the fact that different communities have different needs and that communities considering the adoption of new zoning will, in many cases, require time for a planning process and community input.
