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AHMA POLICY AGENDA FOR THE CITY OF BOSTON

AHMA supports the following initiatives for delivering housing abundance in the City of Boston. Together, we can make Boston a City for everyone:

Affordable Housing Overlay: Create abundant housing by expediting approval of affordable homes.
Missing Middle Overlay: Foster abundant housing with new missing middle homes by making up to 4-unit housing projects as-of-right within the City of Boston.
Eliminate Parking Minimums: Reduce rents and home prices by eliminating parking minimums for all housing projects within the City of Boston.
Turn Planning into Zoning: Establish predictable zoning rules to build the safe, green, and equitable communities Bostonians demand and deserve.
Housing Production Targets: Establish binding annual housing permitting and production targets per 10,000 residents in the City of Boston.

We strongly believe these key tenets will provide a pathway for a variety of housing options for all. To achieve this, development should be done by limiting or removing arbitrary restrictions and eliminating expensive mandates altogether.

Boston-based AHMA members are invited to join our Boston Committee to advance our policy agenda in the City of Boston. To join our Boston Committee please email info@abundanthousingma.org.

City of Boston ADU Campaign

On November 7th we officially launched an advocacy campaign to legalize accessory dwelling units by-right in every neighborhood in Boston.

In her 2024 State of the City Address, Mayor Michelle Wu announced that it was a priority of her administration to make it easier to build an ADU in Boston. Since then, the State Legislature took separate action and legalized ADUs by-right statewide in the landmark Affordable Homes Act. However, that part of the bill DOES NOT apply to the City of Boston. This means that the broad legalization and liberalization of ADU regulations that is being rolled out over the next year will not impact Boston. Instead, most Boston residents are still subject to the rules promulgated in a 2019 zoning amendment that only allow for ADUs in narrowly defined circumstances.

Our goal is to pass a new zoning amendment before the next Mayoral election in November, 2025.

Steering Committee

To guide this campaign we have created a steering committee of residents from neighborhoods across the city. The steering committee meets once a month and is tasked with shaping the strategic direction of the campaign. If you want to join this committee, reach out to our Boston Organizer Elvira Mora.

Policy Framework

To truly make this affordable housing option widely available to current and future residents, we need broader and more comprehensive rules. Abundant Housing MA has created a policy framework for the City that outlines and details what we believe these rules should and how the City should approach developing them. Click on the links below to learn more.

Boston ADU Policy Framework Overview

Boston ADU Policy Framework Full

Boston’s ADU Program Fact Sheet

Like nearly every other aspect of the Boston Zoning Code, the rules governing ADUs are confusing. We have put together the fact sheet below to explain what the current rules are, where they apply, and what barriers exist to expanding ADU access.

Boston ADU Fact Sheet

AHMA Talking Points on Article 80

Development review in the city of Boston is currently a lengthy and unpredictable process. Additionally, when paired with an outdated and broken zoning code, it actively creates barriers for a more abundant city.

Article 80 of the Boston Zoning Code, which sets guidelines for larger development projects across the city, has not been updated since 1996. The Article 80 Modernization process is the Planning Department’s effort to update the developmental review process into a process that is transparent, accessible and predictable.

We applaud the Mayor and the City of Boston”s Planning Department for starting a comprehensive effort on modernizing the Article 80 process within the Zoning Code. By modernizing this process, we are hopeful that development in Boston will be transparent, accessible and predictable, while also creating much-needed new homes for current and future residents.

To that end, the City of Boston’s Planning Department should consider the following things as they conduct this process:

As the Article 80 Modernization process is ongoing, we’re counting on AHMA’s Boston based members to ensure pro-housing voices are heard. Take action and testify on July 15, 2024 during the Boston City Council Committee’s Planning, Development and Transportation hearing order to discuss the ongoing Article 80 process. Please visit: https://www.boston.gov/public-notices/16175201 for instructions on how to testify. We welcome you to use our talking points listed above.

Take Action on Boston’s Squares + Streets initiative

Read AHMA’s full statement here

1/12/24 Update: Our collective advocacy has led to the implementation of the highest density district within the Squares & Streets Initiative. Thank you! Your voice matters and is still needed! The BPDA is seeking feedback to the questions depicted below. Click here to submit your comments and ideas before January 28th. You are also welcome to resubmit new ideas as you have them.

We are counting on you to:

Submit comments using the city’s public comment form including the talking points provided by AHMA, and…
Attend at least one (1) community office hour session and/or a public meeting

The BPDA holds recurring Squares + Streets Zoning Community Office Hours throughout the process. Please refer to the official page for additional information, events and important dates.

By actively participating in the Squares+Streets initiative process through public comment and meeting attendance, you are helping bring AHMA’s vision of housing abundance to the City of Boston.

AHMA Talking Points on Squares & Streets

The City of Boston is requesting feedback, in the following format, on the Squares & Streets Initiative. Use these talking points to provide your feedback and make the pro-housing case!

This initiative is a step in the right direction towards greater housing abundance and affordability in the city of Boston. It creates a framework the City can use to legalize the kind of homes we need to make Boston an affordable place to live. It also helpfully moves away from an over-reliance on discretionary review, which adds significant inefficiency, delays, and costs to every project. Greater predictability will encourage the creation of more homes throughout the City at all price points. This kind of zoning reform is long overdue and should not be delayed any further.
The elimination of parking minimums in all Squares + Streets districts is an important reform that will reduce the cost of housing, support the City’s long term commitments to investing in transit and active transportation, and mitigate the impacts of climate change.
The land use modernization component is excellent. By updating and simplifying the categories for various residential and commercial property use, it will streamline permitting and support the creation of dynamic streetscapes and neighborhoods across all of Boston.

Previous presentations on the Squares + Streets initiative included the S5: Placemaker Squares district. This district is not included in the draft text amendment. This is a mistake. The BPDA should be stocking its toolbox with as many tools as possible to create more homes and invigorate neighborhoods. Some of the most successful recent redevelopments in the city (including Boylston Street in the Fenway and the Harrison-Albany district) fit the building types contemplated by the S5 district. The existing conditions in any given district should be the absolute floor of what is included in the nearby mapping, and we need to create opportunities for growth beyond that. The BPDA can make the decision where or even if to deploy S5 overlays. That’s not an option if it isn’t included in the draft language.
It is unclear exactly how the Small Area Plans will be created after this zoning amendment passes. While community engagement is essential, local feedback cannot be the deciding criteria for where S0 through S5 are mapped during the Squares + Streets process. Objective criteria must be used, including proximity to existing business corridors and transit access. Every neighborhood in Boston must allow for greater density. If we want to equitably address the current housing crisis, loud opposition from wealthy homeowners in one neighborhood should not be allowed to shift even higher density to other areas of the city.