“This Matters,” Says Salem Mayor Driscoll
It took four years to pass, but Gov. Charlie Baker said Tuesday he believes a housing law he signed last month as part of a larger economic development bill will have a greater impact that he imagined when he first filed the proposal to make it easier for cities and towns to zone new housing developments.
Baker led a virtual bill signing ceremony on Tuesday to celebrate the passage of a $626 million economic development bill that included long-term funding to support businesses and workers.
The law also contained Baker’s “housing choice” proposal to lower the threshold to a simple majority for local governing boards to approve changes to zoning rules to facilitate the construction of new housing.
Salem Mayor Kim Driscoll said she already planned to put it to use by filing on Tuesday for the third time a fully-affordable accessory dwelling unit ordinance for her city.
“I feel really positive that it will pass,” Driscoll said. “We were the poster child for losing 7-4 votes.”
When he first filed the legislation in 2017, the governor said he was trying to address a decades-long slowdown in housing construction that had led to soaring prices, forcing families to relocate further from jobs and discouraging businesses from setting up in Massachusetts.
New zoning law will help Massachusetts cities and towns adapt post-pandemic
Now, Baker said the zoning law could help cities and towns adapt to a post-pandemic work environment that he believes is likely to be changed forever.
“We have no idea yet how big a deal it’s going to be as people deal with some of the issues and opportunities and challenges that are going to come post-pandemic,” Baker said.
The governor and Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito were joined on the Zoom call by more than a dozen lawmakers and advocates who worked on the bill, including Arlington Town Manager Adam Chapdelaine and last session’s Housing Committee Co-chairs Rep. Kevin Honan and Sen. Brendan Crighton.
“In a moment when we all focus more on issues of racial equity, we also saw the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on communities of color and we came to understand that housing conditions were a root cause of that impact,” said Housing and Economic Development Secretary Mike Kennealy.
The governor said that based on his conversation with business leaders and employers he believes that once the pandemic recedes professionals will continue to work from home at least a few days a week, altering the commuting patterns and work schedules that downtowns were built around.
“If one of the things that comes out of this is a series of strategies in communities across Massachusetts where people start to think real hard about how they turn what was once commercial space into residential space so that they can create the ‘live, work, play’ that will be a different ‘live, work, play” than the one we were talking about before to revitalize certain parts of their downtowns and their communities generally, housing choice will play a huge role in making that happen,” Baker said.
Baker did veto some provisions of the bill, including two tenant protection measures, but signed off on a section added by lawmakers requiring cities and towns served by the MBTA to have at least one multifamily zoning district near a transit station.
Rep. Aaron Michlewitz, who negotiated the bill for the House, said he was particularly “excited” by the support it would give to restaurants struggling through the pandemic.
He said he’s already spoken to owners in the North End and other neighborhoods of Boston who are benefiting from a provision in the bill that capped third-party delivery fees at 15 percent.
Sen. Eric Lesser, who negotiated the bill opposite Michlewitz, highlighted new consumer protections he won for student borrowers.
But the discussion over Zoom Tuesday always seemed to circle back to housing.
Driscoll, who was one of the most vocal and active local supporters of Housing Choices over the years, said 50 percent of renters and 25 percent of homeowners in Salem are “housing challenged” and the city has just one affordable housing unit for every four low-income families.
“I’m cheering loudly because this matters,” Driscoll said.
