State Legislative Priorities
2011-2012 CHAPA Legislative Priorities
An Act Relative to Public Housing Innovations Pilots (House Bill 375 and Senate Bill 1935)
Lead Sponsors: Rep. Jeffrey Sanchez and Sen. Harriette Chandler
Status: Reported favorably by Housing Committee; House bill before House Ways and Means; Senate Bill before Senate Ways and Means
H. 375 & S. 1935 Testimony
In difficult budget times, it is important to maximize efficiency and innovation in government. This legislation would create a pilot program for 10 housing authorities to implement innovative management and rehabilitation programs in state public housing. The legislation would authorize innovative program design on a variety of issues such as energy contract procurement, use of surplus housing authority real estate, administrative reporting, public/private partnerships, and rent calculation. Authorities implementing innovative programs could apply for streamlined and reduced regulatory and statutory requirements to overcome red tape that blocks innovation. The pilot would also allow these authorities to maximize the efficient use of funds received by the authority. By not restricting the use of funds to one narrow purpose, housing authorities would be able to address local needs which differ by locality.
An Act Relative to Sustaining Community Preservation (House Bill 765 and Senate Bill 1841)
Lead Sponsors: Rep. Steve Kulik and Sen. Cynthia Stone Creem
Status: Reported favorably by Committee on Community Development and Small Business; Before House Committee on Ways and Means
H. 765 & S. 1841 Testimony
Many important local affordable housing initiatives have advanced as a result of the Community Preservation Act. CPA funds have helped create or rehabilitate 4,230 affordable housing units. This bill would ensure that there is sufficient funding to maintain a substantial state CPA match for funds raised locally through CPA. The legislation also attempts to expand CPA participation by allowing localities to use other sources of funding to access state CPA funds. It also resolves ambiguities currently in the law and clarifies that CPA funds can be used to support existing local CPA housing programs.
An Act Relative to Community Housing and Services (House Bill 368 and Senate Bill 1967)
Lead Sponsors: Rep. Kevin Honan and Sen. Pat Jehlen
Status: Reported favorably by Housing Committee; Engrossed by the Senate in July, Before House Committee on Ways and Means
H. 368 & S. 1967 Testimony
Many Commonwealth residents need support services to live in community-based housing. In order to build supportive housing for people with disabilities, elders, or households at-risk of homelessness, an affordable housing developer must access three disparate pots of capital, operating, and supportive service funds through multiple applications. The legislation calls for a coordinated process to build supportive housing by establishing formal relationships and shared principles among the relevant state agencies involved in the process. It also creates a goal of producing at least 1,000 units of supportive housing within three years.
An Act Promoting Accessible Housing for People with Disabilities (House Bill 1557 and Senate Bill 3672)
Lead Sponsors: Rep. Kevin Honan and Sen. Michael Moore
Status: Reported favorably by Housing Committee; Before House Committe on Bonding, Capital Expenditures, and State Assets
H. 1557 & S. 3672 Testimony
The Commonwealth has a lack of accessible affordable housing. The current state accessibility requirements for housing are confusing and in some cases, inconsistent with federal fair housing requirements. This legislation would call for the Massachusetts Architectural Access Board (MAAB) to raise the Commonwealth’s accessibility building code to levels that at least meet federal accessibility requirements and make the code structure consistent with the rest of the state building code. In addition, MAAB would continue to have the ability to set state accessibility code requirements that exceed federal accessibility requirements.
Capital programs that fund affordable housing for persons with disabilities also require reauthorization. The bill provides authorization for the Community Based Housing Program, Facilities Consolidation Fund and Housing Innovations Fund to continue to fund critical developments for the next 5 years.
An Act Relative to Affordable Housing Energy Efficiency (House Bill 369 and Senate Bill 1653)
Lead Sponsors: Rep. Kevin Honan and Sen. Sal DiDomenico
Status: House bill before Committee on Housing; Senate bill before Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy
S. 1653 Testimony
Making affordable housing energy efficient helps tenants, affordable housing owners, and the environment. There is a significant cost to constructing or rehabilitating affordable housing to ensure that the buildings minimize energy use. However, if the up-front capital investment can be absorbed, the energy savings are significant and can reduce the rent necessary to maintain the property and the impact on the environment. This legislation redirects funding to provide grants and loans as up-front capital investments that make affordable housing developments more energy efficient.
Comprehensive Land Use Reform and Partnership Act (Senate Bill 1019)
Lead Sponsor: Sen. James Eldridge
Status: Committee on Municipalities and Regional Government
S. 1019 Testimony
Promoting a healthy Massachusetts economy and quality of life requires strategic and efficient development decisions. Massachusetts land use laws are antiquated and lead to poor outcomes. Over time, these laws have led to expensive housing, sprawl, contentious permitting, and long commutes. This legislation takes a two-tiered approach to improve land use decisions: 1) Statewide reforms include consistent local land use planning and zoning, local decisions are given deference to make it harder to unfairly stall locally approved developments in court, local bylaws can’t require excessive subdivision road-width, inclusionary zoning is authorized, and exclusionary zoning is prohibited; 2) Individual communities can opt-in and receive incentives to plan and permit land use to meet specific economic development, housing, and natural resource protection targets.
An Act Promoting Local Housing Initiatives for Economically Diverse Households (House Bill 1271)
Lead Sponsor: Rep. Carl Sciortino
Status: Joint Committee on Housing
H. 1271 Testimony
Excessive local barriers to multifamily housing have made many communities off limits to working families, seniors, and persons with disabilities with modest income. This proposal promotes local land use policies that create housing for a range of incomes. Under the bill, cities and towns may establish large lot zoning but must address exclusion of families, persons with disabilities and seniors with limited incomes by designating places to develop homes on smaller parcels or in multifamily settings.
An Act Prohibiting Discrimination in Affordable Housing Permitting (Senate Bill 1010)
Lead Sponsor: Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz
Status: Joint Committee on Municipalities and Regional Government
S. 1010 Testimony
This bill provides that it will be an unlawful discriminatory practice for government entities to reject affordable housing developments simply on the basis that the developments will include households with lower incomes as residents. This type of socio-economic discrimination is fundamentally unfair and has led to a shortage of affordable housing in Massachusetts. Because this is an issue of equity, the Commonwealth’s civil rights statute is an appropriate place to ensure protection for those in need of affordable housing. The legislation is clear that government entities are entitled to make land use decisions based on any bona fide government interest. The proposal is modeled on the North Carolina civil rights statute.
Additional Legislation that CHAPA Supports:
An Act Relative to Statutory Housing Covenants (Senate Bill 587)
Lead Sponsor: Sen. Jamie Eldridge
Status: Committee on Housing
The Community Development Partnership Act (Senate Bill 988 and Senate Bill 1427)
Lead Sponsor: Sen. Sal DiDomenico, Rep. Linda Dorcena Forry
Status: Reported favorably by Committee on Small Business and Community Development; Before Committee on Revenue
An Act Clearing Titles to Foreclosures (Senate Bill 830 with amendments)
Lead Sponsor: Sen. Michael Moore
Status: Joint Committee on the Judiciary