This month the Massachusetts House and Senate passed a final version of the Affordable Homes Act (AHA). It provides a historic amount of money (over $5 billion) to address the housing problems statewide. In addition, there are policy changes seeking to minimize obstructions to housing production and overriding local zoning bylaws.
Regardless of what bylaws a municipality may have restricting building Accessory Dwelling Units (ADU), state law now stipulates ADUs can be built by right. State law nullifies any former requirements. The policy changes as well as the amount of money have the potential to change the housing landscape statewide.
The seasonal-community designation
AHA includes an entirely new designation for some towns. It is the seasonal-community designation, or resort designation. The ideas behind the designation came from Nantucket and Cape Cod. They suggested that housing policies which might work in other parts of the state do not necessarily work in summer resort communities.
As the populations of Stockbridge and other South County towns shift from a minority to a majority summer residents, our problems begin to mirror Nantucket’s. For example, the median price of a home on Nantucket is $3 million—true. With home prices at that level, town employees, firemen, policemen, EMTs, and teachers cannot afford to live on the island.
Many in South County want to grow the middle class, provide affordable housing to young families and the less wealthy, and return the village to what it was: family oriented. With the average price of a home in Stockbridge at $775,500 and rising, many others believe that ship has sailed. They think we are too far down the road toward an upper-middle-class seasonal community. Does the new designation indicate the state agrees it is too late? Maybe, maybe not.
The pluses and minuses of being a resort
With a median house price of $3 million on Nantucket, AHA proposed policy changes tailored to providing affordable housing in resorts. Before AHA, even if affordable housing were built to accommodate vital employees, state law stipulated that if public funds were used, the housing must be available to the public at large. Whether sales or rental, housing must be available to all even if not municipal employees, vital employees, or local folks. Many who promoted using public funds and forging ahead with creating affordable housing did not contend with or share all the regulations—some of which were counter to helping our locals.
If designated a seasonal community, however, AHA changes that. Housing can be offered to specific groups such as vital employees. The state recognized the different problems in these unique communities and, in an effort to solve them, created the designation seasonal community.
For example, in resort communities, lower priced or low-income housing sells to summer residents and investors as often as to the intended purchasers. In Berkshire County, we witness this firsthand. We watch as lower priced houses are purchased by summer residents, razed, and bigger and more expensive houses built. Alternatively, lower priced houses are purchased by investors and used as short-term rentals. It followed that Nantucket and Cape Cod needed to build affordable housing earmarked specifically for necessary employees, and so do we.
The point is that being designated a resort may not close the door to growing the middle class and to creating a population diverse in age and economic position. AHA may enable it.
What now?
AHA is 180 pages long. To determine what is good for our specific town, first we need to read and digest what the law says.
We need our planning boards to understand and share with us, to determine what fits for our towns, what benefits us, and what does not. Then we need to know how to take advantage of the good and fight the bad.
We need to work together; the best ideas come from a committed and cooperative group. All ideas are worth considering. No effort should be thwarted. The only “bad” is when folks refuse to do the job. This is a crucial time. We need to evaluate what the law means for us and then act to preserve and protect our community, as well as manage its growth sensibly. Nothing less than the shape of our future is at hand.
