Massachusetts municipalities can now receive a designation as a Housing Choice Community, which gives preferential access to Commonwealth grant programs as well as a new grant program open only to Housing Choice Communities.
Modeled after Massachusetts’ successful Green Communities program, Housing Choice Initiative creates a new system of incentives and rewards for municipalities that deliver sustainable housing growth; creates a new technical assistance toolbox to empower cities and towns to plan for new housing production; and proposes legislative changes through An Act to Promote Housing Choices to deliver smart, effective zoning at the local level. The initiative is aimed to produce of 135,000 new units by 2025. Read a press release here or more details here.