For decades, Massachusetts has not kept up with housing demand which has led to today’s housing shortage. Limited supply has driven our state to have some of the highest and fastest growing home prices and rents across the nation. It has also caused the state to not have enough diverse housing options, such as multifamily housing, for low- and middle-income families, leading to an increase in people experiencing homelessness in recent years. According to HUD’s 2020 homelessness report, “Half of all people experiencing homelessness as part of a family with children were in three states: New York, California, and Massachusetts.” Our state has a responsibility to contribute to reducing the number of our residents experiencing homelessness.

Massachusetts zoning codes have played a critical role in creating our current housing shortage. Many communities have zoning regulations that restrict where and how much multifamily housing may be built by-right. This dissuades developers, architects, and other players in the housing market from proposing a multi-family development. Multi-family developments are critical for supplying diverse housing options to families with children, low- and middle-income households, the elderly looking to downsize and young adults. 

Attracting a diverse population to the City of Newton by providing a broader range of housing options will ensure we remain a lively and economically strong community.

In recent years, the concept of the "missing middle" has been used to help visualize what we mean by multi-family zoning. The MBTA Communities Law enables more diversity of housing, which includes this missing middle. Through this law a variety of housing options will be available that is currently not zoned by-right, such as courtyard apartments and small multifamily buildings. 

The MBTA Communities Law is rooted in the best practices of Transit Oriented Development (TOD). The Department of Transportation defines TOD as that which “creates dense, walkable, and mixed-use spaces near transit that support vibrant, sustainable, and equitable communities.” By focusing development efforts around transit hubs, businesses draw a wider audience and residents have better access to job opportunities, recreational activities, and shopping local. This includes improving access to grocery stores, drug stores, community spaces, medical practices, and other vital resources. 

TOD is also an important strategy for reducing carbon emissions. By strengthening the communities surrounding transit stops, ridership increases causing traffic congestion to decrease, improved air quality and other environmental benefits. In addition, reducing our reliance on single occupancy vehicles will create more people-oriented places that are safe for all modes of travel, ages and abilities.

Overcoming Opposition to Multifamily Rental housing

This report was prepared by the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies for the 2006 Revisiting Rental Housing: A National Policy Summit. The authors discuss five major concerns communities often express toward multifamily housing:

• Multifamily housing will cause single-family home values to decline

• Multifamily housing attracts residents who are more likely to have antisocial behavior

• Multifamily housing will lead to overburdened schools 

• Multifamily housing will bring in less tax revenue 

• Multifamily housing causes more traffic and limited parking

Through their analysis they provide evidence to address each point:

• Referencing a macro-analysis of housing data, the authors explain that single-family homes located near multifamily housing have an average appreciation rate of 3.96% compared to a rate of 3.59% for single-family homes that are not near multifamily housing. In addition, multiple other case studies have led to similar conclusions that multifamily housing does not negatively impact home values, and may even improve them. 

• Residents of multifamily housing are 33% more likely to socialize with neighbors compared with 17% of residents of single-family homes. They are also just as likely to participate in sports teams, book clubs, and other structured social groups as single-family residents, and identify closely with the city or town they live in at similar rates as single-family residents. 

• Multifamily housing tends to attract more single people, couples who do not have children, and elderly. In addition, on average 100 single-family homes have 51 school-age children while 100 apartment units average 31 children.

• Residents of apartments, on average, own one car per household compared to single-family homes which average two cars. In addition, single-family home owners use their cars more often, usually due to being in less concentrated locations than multifamily housing.

Newton Development Lookbook

Multifamily housing can conjure many different ideas of what it will look like. This Lookbook draws from multifamily developments in Newton to show the wide range of aesthetic looks new multifamily housing can take. 

Attorney General Advisory

On March 15, 2023 Attorney General Andrea Campbell released an advisory on the requirements for MBTA communities. She explains that compliance with the MBTA Communities Law is mandatory and outlined the consequences of not coming into compliance. This includes

• Losing eligibility for several state grant programs (including MassWorks, Local Capital Projects Fund, and the Housing Choice Initiative)

• Communities can be liable under federal and state fair housing laws and can be sued

• 3/29/23 ZAP Memo

• 3/29/23 ZAP Report (presentation on page 6)

• 3/29/23 ZAP Meeting Video

• 3/7/23 Committee of the Whole Briefing

• 3/7/23 Staff Memo

• 1/24/22 ZAP

• 1/24/22 Presentation

• 1/24/22 Meeting Video