Who is a member?
Our members are the local governments of Massachusetts and their elected and appointed leadership.
Local officials will have the opportunity to meet the newly appointed director of Gov. Charlie Baker’s housing initiative and learn more about the program during the MMA’s Annual Meeting & Trade Show this Friday, Jan. 19, and Saturday, Jan. 20.
Housing Choice Program Director Chris Kluchman will be available at the Department of Housing and Community Development’s Trade Show booth (#714) to discuss the initiative throughout the conference.
She will also discuss the program on Friday as part of the “Successful and Effective Land Use and Zoning Policies” workshop that runs from 3:45 to 5 p.m., and on Saturday during the Massachusetts Selectmen’s Association Business Meeting from 8:30 to 10 a.m.
The Housing Choice Initiative is designed to build on progress being made by cities and towns in the housing field, while providing more tools and flexibility for municipal leaders, and to create a one-stop shop for information about technical assistance grants for local governments.
The administration this week announced a new online portal for the program, at www.mass.gov/housingchoice.
The initiative creates a Housing Choice Designation that rewards communities that are producing new housing and have adopted best practices to promote sustainable housing development, by providing exclusive admission to certain housing grants and priority access to existing state grants, such as MassWorks.
Online applications for Housing Choice Designation will open the week of Jan. 22 and close at the end of April. Housing Choice Grants and Housing Choice Small Town Grant applications are expected to open in June 2018.
Gov. Baker has also filed legislation (H. 4075) that would, among other provisions, reduce the threshold for certain zoning changes from two-thirds of the voting body to a simple majority, as a way to help cities and towns advance local housing priorities.
• See related MMA article about the Housing Choice Initiative
• Housing Choice Initiative overview (600K PDF)
• Housing Choice Designation criteria (250K PDF)
• An Act to Promote Housing Choices summary (380K PDF)