Housing (Affordable Housing)

This bill exempts Massachusetts towns with fewer than 30,000 residents from Chapter 40B housing requirements. It requires any proposed 40B housing project in these small towns to gain approval from at least 70% of voters in a town election. Current Chapter 40B projects in qualifying communities would be paused until the legislature acts. The bill directly affects small towns and housing developers seeking to build under Chapter 40B. It changes the process by adding voter approval as a mandatory step for new projects.

This bill exempts municipalities ordered by the state housing agency (DHCD) or federal authorities to provide emergency shelters for more than 10 homeless individuals from Chapter 40B housing regulations for at least five years. It specifically relieves them from meeting the requirement to provide affordable housing units (currently 10% of new projects). The exemption applies only when shelters are established under government order for emergency homeless populations. This directly affects towns and cities mandated to house larger groups of homeless residents during crises.

This bill denies access to Commonwealth-subsidized public housing for individuals convicted of Level 2 or Level 3 sex offenses in Massachusetts. It directly affects people with these specific sex offense convictions who would otherwise qualify for subsidized housing. The law amends housing statutes to require such denial by inserting a new subsection (q) into the relevant chapter. This creates a mandatory restriction on housing eligibility for these individuals in publicly funded housing units. The policy change is limited to housing subsidized by the state, not all public housing.