Massachusetts’ Gov. Maura Healey and Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll have taken the unusual step of setting up a nonprofit to advocate for pro-housing efforts at the local level.
One Commonwealth Inc., will work to provide political and financial support for local housing initiatives, a key pillar of the governor’s agenda. The organization will raise money to help residents with grassroots training and pro-housing messaging. “While governors often support their favored candidates with donations from their campaign coffers or from separate political action committees, what Healey and Driscoll are doing is something different: creating an advocacy group to back an important policy,” reports the Boston Globe.
The nonprofit will likely join the fight to support a 2021 law that requires more than 170 municipalities served by public transit to modify zoning to allow multifamily housing. Dozens of cities and towns have passed zoning reform plans, but opposition is strong in some towns.
At least five communities to date have rejected plans to comply with the law. The town of Milton, whose voters rejected a rezoning plan, is facing the withholding of some grant funding and is being sued by the state’s attorney general for noncompliance.
The median price of a single-family home in Greater Boston has reached $900,000 this year, making the drive to build new housing more urgent.
Related Stories
MFPRO+ New Projects | Jul 10, 2024
3 noteworthy multifamily projects for July 2024
These three multifamily projects on our radar include an artist-inspired complex, seven-acres of senior housing, and a budget-conscious rental community.
MFPRO+ News | Jul 8, 2024
Boston receives 304 new market-rate and affordable housing units
The Smith No. 99 in Boston, Mass., is a new 305,000-sf mixed-use apartment community featuring 304 market rate and affordable housing units.
MFPRO+ New Projects | Jul 2, 2024
Miami residential condo tower provides a deeded office unit for every buyer
A new Miami residential condo office tower sweetens the deal for buyers by providing an individual, deeded and furnished office with each condo unit purchased. One Twenty Brickell Residences, a 34-story, 240-unit tower, also offers more than 60,000 sf of exclusive residential amenities.
Senior Living Design | Jun 28, 2024
The country’s largest retirement community expands with educational facilities
The project will include a high school, a K-8 school, and an Early Learning Center aimed at serving the children of residents who work in qualified businesses within The Villages.
MFPRO+ New Projects | Jun 27, 2024
Chicago’s long-vacant Spire site will be home to a two-tower residential development
In downtown Chicago, the site of the planned Chicago Spire, at the confluence of Lake Michigan and the Chicago River, has sat vacant since construction ceased in the wake of the Great Recession. In the next few years, the site will be home to a new two-tower residential development, 400 Lake Shore.
MFPRO+ News | Jun 25, 2024
New York mayor releases multi-year plan to address affordable housing crisis
The plan seeks to create and preserve affordable housing. It will incentivize the inclusion of permanently affordable and rent stabilized housing in new, multi-family construction projects.
Student Housing | Jun 25, 2024
P3 student housing project with 176 units slated for Purdue University Fort Wayne
A public/private partnership will fund a four-story, 213,000 sf apartment complex on Purdue University Fort Wayne’s (PFW’s) North Campus in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The P3 entity was formed exclusively for this property.
MFPRO+ News | Jun 24, 2024
‘Yes in God’s Backyard’ movement could create more affordable housing
The so-called “Yes in God’s Backyard” (YIGBY) movement, where houses of worship convert their properties to housing, could help alleviate the serious housing crisis affecting many communities around the country.
MFPRO+ News | Jun 20, 2024
National multifamily outlook: Summer 2024
The multifamily sector continues to be strong in 2024, even when a handful of challenges are present. That is according to the Matrix Multifamily National Report for Summer 2024.
