Union, Business, Housing Leaders Express Support for AG Campbell's Enforcement of MBTA Communities Law

Thanks to the Massachusetts Office of Attorney General for sharing this news with Westwood Minute.

BOSTON – Leaders representing housing production advocates, the labor union, and business gathered to speak in support of Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell's ability to enforce compliance of the MBTA Communities Act on the morning of  October 7th, just as the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court was preparing to hear arguments in the case of Attorney General v. Town of Milton. In that case, AG Campbell seeks to enforce the MBTA Communities Law by compelling the Town of Milton to comply.

AG Campbell called the MBTA Communities Law a "mandatory tool to address our housing affordability crisis," and called the Town of Milton "the only outlier" which has remained in non-compliance, against a trend and momentum of communities across the Commonwealth that have complied.

In support of the AG, Abundant Housing Massachusetts Executive Director Jesse Kanson-Benanav, noted, “We are thousands of homes away from meeting the demand of our current and future residents’ needs. MBTA Communities is a way to unburden and alleviate the pressure on our housing market."

 Abundant Housing Massachusetts, AFL-CIO, Associated Industries of Massachusetts, and Citizens’ Housing and Planning Association are a few of the over 70 organizations that filed amicus briefs supporting the AG's office in the case. 

The supportive amicus briefs argue that:

• The MBTA Communities Law addresses a longstanding housing crisis that disproportionally impacts marginalized communities;

• Effective workforce and economic development in the Commonwealth requires substantially more transit-oriented housing; and

• The AG has ability to enforce the MBTA Communities Law.

"For too long, zoning has been used to say no to housing production, and we are feeling the effects of these policies today with some of the highest rents and home prices in the nation," said Citizens' Housing and Planning Association CEO Rachel Heller. She pointed to the MBTA Communities Law as a legislative solution.

Massachusetts AFL-CIO President Chrissy Lynch spoke of the importance of affordable housing that is accessible to public transit. She described the MBTA Communities Law as helping to "ensure that working families have access to adequate housing, public transportation, and good jobs. ”

“Our businesses thrive when workers are able to live in the communities they work in,” said President and CEO of Associated Industries of Massachusetts Brooke Thomson. 

According to the AG's office, there are now 76 communities across the state acting in good faith to comply with the law, and 36 communities that are fully compliant, with approved zoning plans.

The Town of Milton is the only municipality covered by the MBTA Communities Law to have missed its final deadline for compliance, says the AG's office. While town officials developed a compliant zoning district to submit to the state, Milton voters overturned it in February 2024. 

AG Campbell filed a lawsuit against the town for failure to comply with the law and is seeking a court order to require the Town to come into compliance.

The MBTA Communities Law, passed in 2021, is a bipartisan law that addresses the Commonwealth’s housing affordability crisis by requiring 177 towns and cities within the MBTA’s service area to have at least one zoning district of reasonable size in which multi-family housing is permitted as of right. The AG's office describes the MBTA law as giving "considerable discretion over the location and size of the new zoning district." 

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