When it was unveiled last fall, to no small amount of fanfare, Gov. Maura Healey’s $4.1 billion housing bond bill was touted as a quantum leap toward solving a crisis of affordability and supply that was driving people out of the Bay State, stomping on the commonwealth’s economic competitiveness, and creating a class of housing haves- and have-nots.
It was supposed to be the marquee issue on Beacon Hill in 2024. And for a while, it looked that way.
The plan, which calls for the creation of tens of thousands of new homes through a battery of policy initiatives, got a warm reception from lawmakers and advocates during a legislative hearing earlier this year.
Solving the state’s housing crunch “is job one,” the Democratic governor said, not for the first time, during an appearance in Worcester last week, where she huddled with business leaders to brainstorm ways for cities and towns to support the construction of more market-rate and affordable housing.
Legislative leaders, from House Speaker Ron Mariano and Senate President Karen Spilka, toed the line, each attesting to the gravity of the policy challenge confronting the Legislature.
But seven months on, that talk remains mainly that — talk — and the clock is ticking down toward the end of the Legislature’s formal sessions for the year.
And with such big issues as gun law reform, health care, and the budget still on the docket, it’s still not immediately clear when one of Healey’s signature policy proposals will see a vote.
Speaking to reporters Wednesday, Mariano, D-3rd Norfolk, said the House “intended to do it,” when he was asked about the housing bill but did not offer a specific timeline.
“We’re working on it now. I would think we will take it up. We have a few other things in line before that. But it’s coming through, and we intend to do it,” he said, according to an audio recording provided by his office.
In a statement, Spilka, D-Middlesex/Norfolk, said her chamber’s hands are tied until the House holds a vote. The lower chamber must go first.
“The Senate looks forward to acting on housing legislation and will do so soon after a bill is sent over from the House of Representatives,” the Ashland Democrat said.
“Housing is one of the foremost issues that the senate president hears about from members and constituents alike, and it is a challenge the Senate is committed to addressing to support Massachusetts residents, families, and businesses,” she said.
But while the timeline remains murky, what is clear is that the bill has run into some of the same immovable political forces — on Beacon Hill and beyond — that often conspire to delay even the most best-intentioned proposals, let alone those where a constellation of moneyed interests have skin in the game.
“Groups like the homebuilders and the Realtors are very politically active and politically astute,” veteran western Massachusetts political consultant Matt L. Barron told MassLive.
“They’re saying it already costs a lot of money to buy a home” and that some measures in the bill “will push it even more out of reach. And politically, they are making that case to the rank-and-file [legislators],” Barron said.
But it’s not just the backbenchers who have reservations.
On Wednesday, Mariano threw cold water on one of the key funding legs intended to ease the crisis: A locally imposed transfer tax on the most expensive real estate transactions.
Both Healey and Boston Mayor Michelle Wu have stressed the utility of the levy. And in March, Mariano said his chamber planned to take up the proposal, with the Quincy Democrat noting that it was incumbent on lawmakers to “explore all options that have the potential to make a real difference,” according to State House News Service.
But after hearing from lawmakers, Mariano said the proposal wasn’t “as popular as I thought it might be” and that he would “really have to weigh the measure of what would happen” if it were brought to the floor for a vote, according to the audio recording his office provided.
House Ways and Means Committee Chairperson Aaron Michlewitz, D-3rd Suffolk, whose panel controls the House’s purse strings, was similarly noncommittal when he was asked about the local-option tax that Wu is pursuing.
“It’s a little early to … make a determination on whether we’re going to be supporting it or not,” he said.
Meanwhile, Healey has faced a local rebellion of sorts from communities that have refused to abide by the terms of a state law intended to encourage the construction of multifamily housing along MBTA rail lines.
Some 60 municipalities statewide had passed local zoning rules complying with the MBTA Communities Act, as the law is formally known, according to a tally released by the state’s Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities, Boston.com reported.
This week, residents in Winthrop joined the ranks of communities opposing the zoning requirement, even though that opposition could cost them state grant money, WCVB-TV reported. One holdout town, Milton, is fighting it out in state court.
And for some, what initially looked like a legitimate public good is now starting to smack of government overreach.
The conservative Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance has called Healey’s housing proposal “100% off the mark,” MassLive previously reported.
“This bill will not bring down the cost of housing in our state and will only exacerbate the decline in economic competitiveness we’ve seen in the last several years which is causing a massive flood of people and wealth out of our state,” spokesperson Paul D. Craney said.
And a recent poll suggests that Massachusetts voters are souring on Healey, who stands for reelection in two years, largely on the back of pocketbook issues.
“It’s kind of playing with fire,” Barron mused.
While lawmakers dawdle and Beacon Hill inertia takes its toll, housing-hungry Bay Staters in Boston and beyond are railing on Reddit about the punishingly high cost of finding a place to live, even as they trade tips on the latest apartments to come on the market.
“I make over [$60,000] a year, and I’m struggling to find housing,” one user posted to the r/Boston subreddit. “I currently live with five roommates. My rent is going up $400 starting in September. I can’t afford it.”
Others, surveying a housing landscape where homes routinely sell in the seven figures, wondered aloud, “I don’t really understand” who’s buying the high-dollar homes in Boston?
“Like, are they foreign with deep pockets? Law partners at huge firms? Who’s the market aimed at? A couple making [$300,000-$400,000] would still struggle to find a place larger than 1,000 square feet here,” they said.
Healey’s office has said that its proposal could help to level that playing field. Now, all it needs is a vote.
