The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court delivered a landmark decision on January 8 in Attorney General vs. Town of Milton, affirming the responsibility of every Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) Community to zone for multifamily housing. The decision is a major victory for affordable housing and a critical step toward ensuring that all cities and towns in Massachusetts contribute to solving the state’s decades-long housing shortage.
The exclusion of multifamily housing constrains a community’s supply of housing, which in turn increases prices and rent. Exclusionary zoning policies also maintain patterns of racial and social segregation by preventing the construction of multifamily homes, which are cheaper to buy or rent in certain communities. This prevents lower-income households, which disproportionately comprise people of color, from living in single-family home communities, which tend to be home to wealthier white people. These wealthier communities often have better access to amenities like public transportation, high-performing schools, and good-paying jobs. To combat these challenges and ensure diverse housing options are permitted in more high-opportunity communities, a growing number of cities and states have enacted zoning reforms, such as the MBTA Communities Act.
Enacted in 2021, the MBTA Communities Act requires all Massachusetts’s 177 MBTA Communities – those served by the MBTA, as well as certain adjacent communities – to include at least one zoning district of reasonable size in which multifamily housing is permitted and which is located near a transit station, if feasible. Following the law’s enactment, Massachusetts’s Department of Housing and Community Development (now called the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities, or EOHLC) issued draft guidelines for compliance. A robust public comment period was then held over the course of three months, with engagement sessions held around the state, resulting in the submission of nearly 400 comments. On August 10, 2022, final guidelines were issued and letters were sent to each MBTA Community. A compliance deadline of December 31, 2023, was established for certain communities, while others were required to comply by the end of 2024 or 2025.
The Town of Milton decided to adopt an MBTA Communities Multi-Family Overlay District in December 2023; however, in February 2024, voters in Milton overturned the decision in a referendum. This prompted the Attorney General to file a lawsuit seeking a court order to require the town to comply. More than 70 organizations, including Citizens Housing and Planning Association (CHAPA), an NLIHC state partner, joined amicus briefs in support of arguments made by the Attorney General and the EOHLC. Oral arguments were held on October 7, 2024, and the final ruling was issued on January 8. In the ruling, the court required the state to rewrite the MBTA Communities guidelines in accordance with the Administrative Procedure Act. Once this has been done, the court concludes, the Attorney General will have the power to bring suit to enforce the law and its guidelines.
CHAPA was instrumental in the enactment of the MBTA Communities Act in 2021 and has since worked to support its implementation across the state. CHAPA’s MBTA Zoning Technical Assistance program has worked to help 68 communities comply with the law, most of which have approved an MBTA Communities District. As of January 8, 116 communities had come into compliance. CHAPA expects that the Supreme Judicial Court’s ruling will motivate the remaining communities to act quickly to abide by the law. Following the January 8 ruling, the EOHLC reissued the existing MBTA Communities Act guidelines as emergency regulations that take immediate effect in order to prevent confusion among already-compliant communities and further delays in creating more housing.
“The Supreme Judicial Court’s ruling that Milton must comply with the MBTA Communities Act is an important step in the fight for fair housing,” said Whitney Demetrius, CHAPA’s director of fair housing and municipal engagement. “For too long, communities have used restrictive zoning to prevent the creation of homes affordable to people with low and middle incomes. CHAPA is optimistic that this ruling will allow people of all income levels to find homes in the communities that they choose.”
Zoning reforms like the MBTA Communities Act encourage the construction of higher-density multifamily housing in more communities. However, on its own, this reform will not eliminate the shortage of housing for extremely low-income renters. Significant federal investment in housing assistance like Housing Choice Vouchers and the national Housing Trust Fund are necessary to bridge the gap between incomes and housing costs and create more deeply affordable rental homes. For more information about land use restrictions and affordable housing, please read NLIHC’s Advocates’ Guide article on the topic.