Bill > H1124

This bill proposes to amend Chapter 40B of the General Laws, a Massachusetts law that encourages the development of affordable housing. Specifically, it introduces a new section, 20A, which defines an "Affordable Housing Unit" as any housing unit whose assessed value is affordable to a household earning less than 80% of the area median income, meaning 80% of the typical income for that geographic region. If a unit meets this affordability standard for five consecutive years, it will count towards a town's requirement to have at least 10% of its housing units be affordable, a threshold established under the existing definition of "consistent with local needs" in section 20 of Chapter 40B. The Department of Housing and Community Development, a state agency responsible for housing initiatives, will be tasked with creating the specific rules and regulations needed to put this new definition into practice.