HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 2735        FILED ON: 1/16/2025

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The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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PRESENTED BY:

Natalie M. Blais

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To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General
Court assembled:

The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill:

An Act promoting geographic equity in state-funded housing development.

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PETITION OF:

HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 2735        FILED ON: 1/16/2025

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No.         

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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In the One Hundred and Ninety-Fourth General Court
(2025-2026)

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An Act promoting geographic equity in state-funded housing development.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
 

SECTION 1. Clause (xvii) of subsection (b) of section 1 of chapter 23B of the General Laws, as most recently amended by section 102 of chapter 7 of the acts of 2023, is hereby amended by inserting after the word “period” the following words:- ; provided, that in developing the plan, the executive office shall ensure that scoring criteria effectively ensures geographic equity.

SECTION 2. Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, the executive office of housing and livable communities, in consultation with all quasi-public agencies of the commonwealth that provide funding for housing development or production, shall track and report on geographic equity in all expenditures made pursuant to chapter 150 of the acts of 2024 and in any low and no-interest loans, grants, subsidies, credit enhancements and other financial assistance provided by state or quasi-public agencies for housing development or production between January 1, 2025 and December 31, 2029.

The report shall include, but not be limited to, data describing and evaluating geographic equity as per the following:

(i) for each municipality and each county, the total and per capita number of housing projects produced with financial assistance by the commonwealth;

(ii) the unit mix of each housing project, including number of housing units, number of accessible housing units, bedroom sizes, affordability and total cost per housing unit;

(iii) for each municipality and each county, the total and per capita number of housing units and number of accessible housing units produced;

(iv) for each municipality and each county, the total and per capita number of housing units developed for rent, housing units developed for ownership and housing units with affordability restrictions, including the type and level of affordability restrictions;

(iv) the total amount of state financial assistance provided for each housing project, with a breakdown for each housing project of the amount of financial assistance provided by each state funding program and agency or quasi-public agency; and

(v) for each county, the total and per capita dollar amount of state financial assistance provided for housing development and production.

An interim report shall be provided to the clerks of the house of representatives and the senate, the joint committee on housing and the house and senate committees on ways and means not later than March 1, 2028, and a second report shall be provided to said parties not later than March 1, 2035. The executive office shall make the reports publicly available on its website; provided, that unit level data shall not be posted publicly for any projects with fewer than 3 units.