Four years after Former Governor Charlie Baker enacted Housing Choice, which encompassed MBTA Communities, Massachusetts achieved a significant milestone this month, offering a moment to celebrate and reflect on some of the successes. This past week, the 100th community in Massachusetts approved compliant rezoning! After numerous community meetings, countless revisions, and efforts to provide residents with accurate information amidst widespread misinformation, we have reached approved plans in well over half of the communities affected by the new zoning law.
Asked recently about some of the opposition to MBTA Communities and our need to build more housing in Massachusetts, Former Governor Baker (R) said;
“For Massachusetts to succeed in the future we’ve got to build more housing… I get the fact that everybody that’s got a house has a certain comfort with the way things are. But if you look at all the demographic trends, the crowd we’re losing is the 25 to 35-year-olds. They’re the next generation and it’s gonna be important for us to figure out a way to create places and spaces that they can afford to do what we did.”
Although there has been significant public attention on communities opposing the legislation or treating it merely as a zoning exercise for "paper compliance," I felt it was crucial to highlight those communities that really seized this opportunity to fulfill not only the letter but also the spirit of MBTA Communities. These communities are backing plans that intentionally aim to create new housing, addressing both local and regional housing challenges while working to make their communities better for existing and future residents. Over the coming weeks we'll dive into some of those plans in individual posts here.
If you'd like to nominate a City of Town you think is worthy of distinction, send me an email (Jonathan@remainplaces.com) with your reasoning why and I'll dig in! Thanks again to everyone who has worked tirelessly on plans across the Commonwealth over the past year+.
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