Gov. Healey signs $5.16 billion housing bond bill

Gov. Maura Healey on Aug. 6 signs a $5.16 billion housing bond bill intended to kickstart housing production across Massachusetts.

Surrounded by state and local officials, Gov. Maura Healey today signed a $5.16 billion housing bond bill intended to kickstart housing production across Massachusetts.

The housing law includes $2 billion for the rehabilitation, repair and modernization of more than 40,000 public housing units across the state, an increase of $500 million over what Healey had proposed in the Affordable Homes Act she filed last October.

It also makes significant investments in the HousingWorks Infrastructure Program ($175 million) and in innovative, sustainable and green housing initiatives ($275 million).

Of concern to municipalities — particularly those that have worked out and adopted local rules to allow accessory dwelling units — is that the law allows ADUs as-of-right in single-family zones statewide, a provision that preempts almost all local authority and existing regulations on ADUs. Municipal bylaws will need to comply with the new ADU rules by Feb. 2, 2025. The Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities is expected to release guidance on this issue.

The law does not include a local-option transfer fee on high-value real estate transactions, which was proposed by the governor and supported by a number of communities, including Boston. The fee would have been used to fund affordable housing efforts in municipalities that adopt it.

The law creates a “seasonal communities” designation and commission, but no specific funding stream for it, as was contemplated in the Senate version of the bill.

The bill signed by Healey left out many policy proposals from individual House and Senate versions, including a provision that would have allowed inclusionary zoning bylaws or ordinances to be passed by a simple majority, rather than a two-thirds vote, something advocates have pushed for to bring inclusionary zoning in line with changes made in the Housing Choice legislation of 2020.

The housing bill was the last major piece of legislation to emerge from the closing hours of the formal legislative session for the year on Aug. 1. Legislators reached a last-minute agreement on a compromise bill after the House and Senate had passed different versions in June.

Healey signed the bill at the Golda Meir House, a retirement community in Newton, and was joined by Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll, Housing and Livable Communities Secretary Ed Augustus, Administration and Finance Secretary Matt Gorzkowicz, and Newton Mayor Ruthanne Fuller, among others.