A spokesperson for Healey’s newly created Office of Housing and Livable Communities said the last time the state issued a notice of funding for credits was in the fall of 2021. The nonprofit MassInc said the program has helped create nearly 2,700 new units in and around downtowns and transit areas.īut the demand for credits has far outstripped its size, state officials say. To qualify, at least 80 percent of the units must be market-rate, as opposed to requiring a certain level of affordable units.Īs of last year, the state had awarded nearly $90 million under the program to 61 projects - 31 of which were complete and 30 that were still under construction or pending, according to a Massachusetts Law Reform Institute report in December. They include major cities such as Worcester and Springfield, as well as smaller ones such as Westfield, Salem, and Taunton.ĭevelopers can apply for credits up to $2 million toward both new builds and substantially renovated properties. HDIP targets the development of more market-rate housing in the state’s 26 so-called Gateway Cities, where median household income is below the state average. “We’re getting all these other pressures to try something, to do something.” “It’s an attempt to jump-start and pick up the debate on this whole issue,” House Speaker Ronald Mariano said after the House passed the proposal last week. That three-way support signals the proposal is on its way, clearing the way for a vast expansion of a program first started under the Patrick administration. Still, the House and Senate each embraced similar language a year ago, as has Governor Maura Healey.

Its emergence while a series of other housing proposals before the Legislature remain idle also chafed some Democratic lawmakers, who say the program’s focus on creating more market-rate housing does little to address a desperate need for more affordable units, too.

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