Winthrop WorkingTogether Holds Forum on Housing Crisis

By Transcript Staff

At a time of intense focus on questions related to housing, particularly in the context of the controversial MBTA Communities Act (commonly known as the 3A law, which mandates that communities within the MBTA’s service area in Massachusetts create at least one zoning district where multifamily housing is permitted as of right), a group of about 30 Winthrop residents turned out last Thursday at the E.B. Newton School to hear experts explain the roots of the current housing crisis both statewide and in the Metropolitan Boston region.

The event was organized by the community group Winthrop Working Together. Those in attendance heard from Amy Dain, a senior researcher at the Boston Foundation, one of the nation’s leading community service organizations, and Andrew DeFranza, the Executive Director of Harborlight Homes, a not-for-profit housing developer on the North Shore.

Massachusetts is estimated by state officials and business leaders to be falling far short of what will be needed in the coming decade, with at least 222,000 new housing units required by 2035 to address affordability issues and retain the workforce.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce recently called attention to the nationwide housing crisis, driven by a fundamental imbalance between supply and demand, resulting in a severe shortage of over 4.5 million homes.

The lack of supply has led to a huge increase in median home prices across Massachusetts, which have shot up by nearly 75 percent since 2000, far above the four percent gain in household income over that same period, causing dire economic consequences for many residents across the state who are unable either to buy a home or pay their rent.

A total of 177 cities and towns are subject to the 3A law. Communities that fail to comply risk losing eligibility for certain state grant programs and the Attorney General has advised that communities that fail to comply may face legal action.

As of earlier this month, about half (85) of the communities have submitted zoning plans that have brought them into full compliance with 3A. Winthrop is deemed to be among a group of 83 communities that are in a status of Interim Compliance. These cities and towns have until July 14 to submit a zoning plan that meets the requirements of 3A. (Six communities are in Conditional Compliance and three are non-compliant.)

At the E.B. Newton event, Ms. Dain explained that the housing problem in Massachusetts and across the U.S. has long and emotional roots, well beyond Winthrop. The concept of zoning arose in the U.S. in the 1920s. As the suburbs continued to grow through the mid-1900s, communities quickly set a pattern of car-focused, single-family homes where communities resisted multi-family housing. Even now, Ms. Dain said, most towns legally or effectively bar alternatives to single-family neighborhoods.

Winthrop followed a similar trajectory when it became one of a handful of communities in the state to adopt the Tenement House Act in 1912. That law, which was enacted in the aftermath of the Great Chelsea Fire of 1908, allowed only one and two-family homes to be constructed throughout the town.

The Tenement House law remained in effect until the late 1960s, when the town made changes in its zoning by-laws that paved the way for developments such as Governor’s Park, Seal Harbor, and the so-called garden-style apartment buildings that dot areas throughout the town.

Dain said new multi-family units in the Boston area are now typically only allowed along highways, rather than near transit, where they would be more practical. Such car-centric prioritization, Dain noted, often does not allow for the density necessary to support economically-thriving communities.

Mr. DeFranza described for the audience his organization’s efforts to build multi-family housing in communities along the North Shore, and he acknowledged that political hurdles can be formidable. Even when the political obstacles can be negotiated, he said, it can take five years or more to produce a multi-family housing unit. While housing for low-income residents is important, any growth in housing is valuable because it helps make housing more affordable for everyone, he explained.

Gardner Mayor Michael Nicholson had planned to join Ms. Dain and Mr. DeFranza at the event, but was unable to attend because of a last-minute scheduling conflict. Though Gardner is outside the Greater Boston area and therefore not subject to the requirements of 3A, Mayor Nicholson intended to explain to the audience in Winthrop how he is nevertheless pushing for more housing because he recognizes its importance to his community’s economic well-being.

The situation is particularly acute in Winthrop, where long-term budgetary projections suggest persistent affordability problems for a town challenged by a relatively small business base and growing costs that are being exacerbated by ongoing rises in sea level and storm activity.

The event at the E.B. Newton School was picketed outside by about a dozen people who are urging the Winthrop Town Council to reject compliance with 3A. A group of 11 local residents has filed a lawsuit that seeks a judicial order declaring the rezoning requirement to be an unfunded state mandate.

However, last week a Superior Court judge dismissed a similar lawsuit that had been filed by nine communities challenging the 3A law on the basis that it is an unfunded state mandate because, they alleged, implementing 3A will require communities to shoulder infrastructure and other costs.

Last January, the Mass. Supreme Judicial Court rejected a claim  by the Town of Milton challenging the statute and affirmed the constitutionality of the 3A law, though the court held that state officials had not followed their own guidelines and procedures prior to implementing the law. The ruling required state officials to issue emergency guidelines and to extend the date for compliance to July 14.