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New Regulations Change Tone of Affordable Housing Law

BOSTON-New regulations to the state's affordable-housing law anger developers here. The law has become a divisive issue between suburban and urban officials as well as developers who are accused of taking advantage of the regs to bypass local zoning rules.

By Naomi Grossman | Updated on September 13, 2001

BOSTON-The state Department of Housing and Community Development here has added new rules to its affordable-housing law, angering developers who contend that additional regulations make it more difficult for them to develop affordable housing.

Under the state’s affordable-housing law–Chapter 40B–developers are required to apply for comprehensive permits in order to be able to develop affordable projects. With the new state regulations, additional requirements will need to be met for developers applying for those permits. Included are limitations on the size of housing projects based upon the size of the town in which the development is to be built. This is the regulation that angers developers most as towns with fewer housing units usually have more space for larger projects. “This cap was introduced late in the process,” Joy Conway, senior vice president for government and industry affairs at the Greater Boston Real Estate Board, tells GlobeSt.com. “We aren’t convinced of the rationale for it. A community with a small number of housing units could have land available but the new formula gets in the way of rational planning and housing development that makes sense.”

In addition, developers will also need to inform the state when they are applying for a comprehensive permit and then have a waiting period to insure that developers don’t apply for too many of those permits. The DHCD did not return calls by presstime.

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