Pittsfield — On Wednesday, October 18, Gov. Maura T. Healey and Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll visited the city to promote the Affordable Homes Act legislation. Gov. Healey and Lt. Gov. Driscoll, along with various cabinet members and other municipal officials from Berkshire County, visited St. Mary’s the Morningstar Church, a former church that closed in 2008 and is being redeveloped into affordable housing units.
According to a press release issued by the Governor’s office, the visit was part of Gov. Healey and Lt. Gov. Driscoll’s “Cutting Taxes, Saving You Money” tour across the state to promote both a previously signed tax-cut package and The Affordable Homes Act that has been sent for approval to the state legislature.
On October 4, Gov. Healey signed a series of tax cuts that totaled $1 billion. The tax cuts include cuts directly impacting housing programs, including:
- An increase to the state’s Rental Deduction program from a $3,000 to $4,000 deduction cap;
- An increase to the annual program cap on the state’s Housing Development Incentive Program, from $10 million to $57 million in 2023. After 2023, the cap will be $30 million annually;
- An increase from $1,500 to $2,000 in the state’s Property Tax Liability Reduction for Senior Volunteer Services program, which permits municipalities to increase the maximum property tax abatement available to seniors over 60 years old; and
- The governor also approved a Municipal Affordable Housing Property Tax Exemption, which will permit municipalities to adopt local property tax exemption for affordable real estate projects.
On Oct. 18, through a letter, Gov. Healey introduced The Affordable Homes Act to state legislators. “The Commonwealth faces an increasing housing shortage,” Gov. Healey wrote in the letter to legislators. “The demand for both market rate and affordable housing has significantly increased, and the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities estimates that the Commonwealth must produce 200,000 homes by 2030 to tackle the existing housing shortage and meet growing demand.”
Gov. Healey wrote that, if the legislation is enacted, it would help to create over 40,000 new homes, along with preserving or supporting 27,000 over the next five years. “An additional 114,000 market-rate homes are already completed, under construction, or in the pipeline for completion by 2030 if conditions allow them to move forward,” Gov. Healey wrote. “The legislation I filed today will accelerate production to reach our 200,000-home goal and help ensure that a significant portion of that goal is long-term affordable housing.”
The proposed legislation by Gov. Healey would include $4.12 billion in capital authorization that would support multiple key initiatives around housing, including:
- $1.5 billion in new capital authorization that would allow for capital improvements for 43,000 units of public housing. The funding would include $150 million for the decarbonization of public housing, and $15 million for accessibility upgrades;
- $800 million for the state’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund that would support private affordable housing developments;
- $425 million for the Housing Stabilization and Investment Trust Fund that would support the preservation and rehabilitation of existing projects, and new construction of projects;
- $200 million for the state’s Housing Innovations Trust Fund that would support the creation of rental housing for residents who need extensive support services;
- $100 million to support the creation of affordable homeownership units through the state’s CommonWealth Builder program; and
- $100 million in new capital authorization to support the creation of mixed-income rental housing for households whose incomes have been determined to be too high for traditional subsidized housing.
The full list of Gov. Healey’s proposals included in the Affordable Homes Act, along with the full text of her proposal, can be found here.
Part of the proposal includes the establishment of “a local option real estate transfer fee of 0.5 percent to 2 percent paid by the seller of property on the portion of the sale over $1 million.” The state would require the fee to be used for affordable housing purposes, including a community’s municipal affordable housing trust fund.
Great Barrington Selectboard Vice Chair Leigh Davis, who is also the chair of the Selectboard and Planning Board Housing Subcommittee, has been a proponent for the adoption of the real estate transfer fee. Through a press release issued by the Governor’s office, Davis applauded the proposed legislation. “These are significant steps the Healey-Driscoll administration has taken to address Massachusetts’ housing crisis,” Davis said. “The investments this administration has made in housing affordability, particularly for the Berkshires, will positively impact the lives of so many. The Affordable Homes Act will encourage the housing production we need to lower costs for all and increase homeownership, and I look forward to working with the administration to make all of Massachusetts more affordable, competitive and equitable.”
Back on Wednesday, October 11, Davis presented testimony to the state’s Joint Committee on Revenue in support of the real estate transfer fee.
