Housing advocates cheer $5.4B stimulus bill, though transfer tax falls by wayside

Local policymakers and affordable housing advocates and developers are welcoming a bill that cleared the state Senate unanimously late last week authorizing $5.4 billion in state borrowing to spur housing production amid a mounting housing supply crisis, though they were disappointed some amendments beneficial to western Massachusetts did not survive in the final version of the bill.

“The whole thing is pretty exciting because it’s the most amount of money the state has ever put toward affordable housing,” said Alexis Breiteneicher, executive director of Valley Community Development. “It doesn’t feel just Boston-focused … The need is just as great out here even if we don’t have as many people.”

But Breiteneicher said it was a “bummer” that amendments advocated for by the Western Massachusetts Housing Coalition, a group of local developers and nonprofits, didn’t make the cut.

In particular, Breiteneicher and other local parties pointed out that the Senate bill does not include language to authorize local-option real estate transfer taxes, which more than a dozen communities are seeking to tax high-dollar property sales within their borders and generate money for affordable housing.

The House version of the bill, which was passed earlier, also did not adopt the tax provision, meaning it is likely dead for this session.

Sen. Jo Comerford of Northampton and Keith Fairey, president and CEO of Way Finders, both said that they were “disappointed” that the transfer tax option failed to make it into the bill.

“It would have created more local opportunity for revenue through home sales,” said Fairey. Nevertheless, Fairey expressed excitement that the bill would “create more resources and the ability for more resources,” allowing the state to more adeptly work to fill a “massive” housing gap.

Sen. Lydia Edwards, Senate chair of the Housing Committee, projected the bill would prompt the creation of 40,000 housing units, a large bite out of the 200,000-unit shortage Massachusetts faces. And while some senators touted the housing bill as historic in the scope of its bond authorization, the state is currently limited to about $400 million a year in capital spending on housing under its latest five-year capital budget.

“Many of the key programs we use to develop affordable housing are seeing significant funding,” said Fairey. “These are bread and butter programs.”

Specifically, Fairey said he was “excited to see investment in our state’s public housing stock.”

Despite some provisions not making it into the bill, Comerford said she was “happy to see it represent and reflect many of the things we wanted to see.”

The three parts of the legislation she thinks are “particularly heartening” and “particularly good for western Massachusetts” are the creation of an office dedicated to rural housing called the Office of Livable Communities; the $50 million marked for rural housing; and clauses in various line items ensuring regional equity in the bill’s implementation.

Comerford was also able to secure bond authorization earmarks for projects by Valley CDC, Way Finders, Leverett, and Valley Community Land Trust totaling $500,000, $2 million, $1 million and $1.47 million, respectively.

Breiteneicher, Comerford and Fairey also noted other positive policy ideas included in the bill, including allowing accessory dwelling units by right in single-family zoning across the state, allowing tenants to seal previous eviction records in certain cases, expanding the designation to address housing availability in “seasonal communities,” and allowing a simple majority voting threshold for inclusionary zoning ordinances and bylaws at the local level.

Sen. John Velis of Westfield was particularly proud of an amendment he co-sponsored with Millbury Sen. Michael Moore that directs the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities to promulgate regulations stating that no offer to purchase a home can be conditioned on the buyer waiving their right to an inspection, which was adopted unanimously.

“It didn’t sit right with me,” he said of the original circumstances, noting that housing is often “so competitive that people become desperate” and surrender their ability to scope out issues with the property before it is too late.

Velis, the only western Massachusetts senator on the Joint Committee on Housing, called the bill a “housing course correction” with a “really big emphasis on building.”

“Are we done? Absolutely not … but this puts us on a path to really make housing affordable,” he said.

Also missing in the Senate bill is a $1 billion bond authorization championed by House Speaker Ronald Mariano to expand the Massachusetts Water Resource Authority’s service area to the suburbs south of Boston. Comerford, whose district includes some of the towns surrounding the Quabbin Reservoir, which supplies water to the authority for the greater Boston area, said the Senate believed that there hadn’t been enough conversation about the potential for MWRA expansion.

Now that versions of the bill have passed the House and Senate, a conference committee must reconcile differences between the two versions before the agreed upon bill will be sent to Gov. Maura Healey’s desk for signing.

This story contains content from the State House News Service. Alexa Lewis can be reached at alewis@gazettenet.com.