MAHC Membership Votes in New Board Chair and Two New Board Members
MAHC membership voted in new board chair, Laura Reading, from Developer's Collaborative. MAHC is so pleased to have Laura's expertise at the helm. At the same time, we are deeply grateful for Amy Cullen Dailey, of The Szanton Company's, extended 3-year term as now past board chair for her steadfast commitment through MAHC staff transitions, COVID, and becoming an independent 501c4! In addition, MAHC membership voted in two new board members, Shawn McKenna from Bangor Savings Bank; and John Egan from Genesis Community Loan Fund. Read more.
MAHC membership voted to move forward launching a new website, social media, and PR campaign with tools for developers and municipalities to support housing development affordable for all Maine people. To learn more and support the campaign, reach out to MAHC.
Pairing Zoning and Environmental Review Reforms in Vermont
1) Zoning reforms - preempts municipal zoning ordinances to allow for more housing development through multiple provisions:
Allowing for more multifamily housing: Municipalities must allow duplexes anywhere single-family homes are allowed and must allow four-unit residential buildings on lots served by water and sewer infrastructure.
Allowing for more density: Municipal bylaws must allow at least five units per acre. Affordable housing developments may add additional units up to a 40% increase in existing density.
Reducing parking thresholds: Municipalities may not require more than one parking unit per dwelling for lots served by water and sewer infrastructure.
Allowing accessory dwelling units (ADUs): Municipalities may not subject ADUs to more stringent reviews or zoning criteria than single-family homes.
2) Reducing the burden of environmental reviews - made several changes to statewide land use regulation under Act 250 that “provides a public, quasi-judicial process” for reviewing the environmental and social impact of major developments. These reviews can impose costly delays on housing development. The Vermont Department of Housing and Community Development commissioner estimated that an Act 250 review can add $2,000 to $6,000 to the cost of each new housing unit, and can prolong the development process, sometimes by months. The process discourages development by adding uncertainty to the process. Specifically, reviews are triggered by denser and quicker development—the kind of development needed to scale up the supply of affordable homes. Previously, the review was always initiated when a developer proposed to build 10 or more units of housing within a 5-mile radius over five years. Now the threshold is 25 units in downtown areas and village centers, attempting to reduce the burden of reviews for development in denser areas. The new law also removed the cap on the number of developments that could be designated “priority housing projects” and thus exempted from Act 250 review..
Manufactured Housing Communities and Climate Related Hazards Across Northern New England - 6/21, 9:30 - Noon
You are invited to engage in key findings from a regional collaboration focused on Manufactured Housing Communities (MHCs) and climate-related hazards across the northern New England region. Register here.
Manufactured housing communities (MHCs) are an important component of the rural housing landscape across Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine yet face unique vulnerabilities to climate-related hazards. This virtual meeting will convene stakeholders across the region to 1) share key learnings about these communities across the area and 2) discuss best practices and priorities to support climate resilience for MHCs across the region.
Inclusionary Zoning or Requiring Affordability Works - Study Reveals Massachusetts’s Fair Share Housing Policy Counteracts Local Zoning Restrictions and Promotes Mobility to Higher-Advantaged Neighborhoods
A study published recently in Housing Policy Debate, “Can Fair Share Policies Expand Neighborhood Choice? Evidence From Bypassing Exclusionary Zoning Under Massachusetts Chapter 40B,” examines the impact of fair share housing policies on the production of affordable housing in neighborhoods that promote economic and social mobility and positive health outcomes. State-enacted fair share housing policies require all municipalities to take on a “fair share” of the state’s housing needs by maintaining some minimum level of the housing stock as affordable to a designated income group and offer ways to bypass local zoning restrictions to meet that requirement. The authors of the new study found that the “Massachusetts Chapter 40B” policy produces affordable housing units in neighborhoods that promote greater economic, social, and health outcomes than both the typical Massachusetts neighborhood and neighborhoods available to people who benefit from other subsidized housing programs. Read more of this article here
National Survey Shows Broad Agreement across Income Levels about Reasons to Allow More Home Building
Source: Kansal T., Aurand, A., & Saadian, S. (2024). Homeowners, Renters, and Households of All Incomes Back Housing Reforms. Pew Charitable Trusts and NLIHC. Available at: https://bit.ly/4dXIC9f
REBUILDING THE CONSTRUCTION TRADES WORKFORCE
Since the mid-2000s, the construction industry in the United States has faced a significant shortage of skilled labor. During the Great Recession, the industry lost nearly 1 million workers and has since struggled to rebuild its workforce as demand has returned. There are roughly one million fewer workers in the construction trades than there were at the time of the last housing boom in 2007, which has contributed to project delays, rising costs, and other challenges. Read in browser »
Homeowners and renters across the US are struggling with high housing costs. Millions of potential homebuyers have been priced out of the market by high home prices and interest rates, while the number of renters with cost burdens has hit an all-time high. However, a surge in new multifamily rental units is slowing rent growth and accelerated single-family construction is starting to lift for-sale inventories. Join us for the release of The State of the Nation's Housing 2024.
FEDERAL POLICY NEWS & SIGN ON OPPORTUNITIES:
LIHTC Expansion Tax Package Stalled in Senate - Invite Federal officials to Ground Breakings, Tours
THe AHCIA-inspired Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act (H.R. 7024), passed in late January by the House, remains stalled in the Senate includes housing Credit provisions temporarily restoring the 12.5 percent increase to the 9 Percent Housing Credit and lowering the bond financing threshold to 30 percent to facilitate increased production using the 4 Percent Housing Credit.
Organizations need to keep weighing in with Senators to move this forward. Here is a webpage with links to templates and other materials for your outreach on the tax package. With the August Recess soon approaching, now is an ideal time to invite Members of Congress to property tours, ground breakings, and ribbon cuttings while they are at home later this summer. Their schedules will likely fill up fast with campaign events, so we encourage you to begin outreach to congressional schedulers as soon as possible.
House Appropriations Committee Sets FY25 Spending Caps 10% Lower
House appropriators released the spending caps the Committee will use in determining funding amounts for discretionary spending programs for FY2025. The Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development appropriation is 10 percent less than FY2024. Tis below the level allowed under the fiscal agreement reached last summer as part of the debt ceiling negotiations. It is likely that this limit will lead to major cuts in HUD programs in the House version of the THUD bill. The Senate Appropriations Committee has not yet announced the allocations it will use, and without a Budget Resolution, the two chambers are likely to be working with different spending totals, complicating negotiations over final program spending for FY25.
HUD Publishes Proposed Rule on HOME Program - Submit Comment by 7/29
The Office of Affordable Housing Programs (OAHP) in HUD’s Office of Community Planning and Development (CPD) published on May 29 a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in the Federal Register outlining proposed changes to the HOME Investment Partnerships (HOME) program. More.
The bill:
Directs HUD to develop model zoning legislation for state and local governments can utilize voluntarily to boost housing production.
Provide technical assistance and best practices to local governments to implement zoning and land-use reforms.
Fund the national expansion of the National Zoning Atlas and provide grants for localities to develop pre-approved building plans for small and medium multifamily housing to streamline production.
The Reimagining Interim Housing project is hosting a webinar, “Transforming Approaches to Sheltering People at the Community and Organizational Level." It will highlight transformative efforts to address the needs of people experiencing homelessness in San Jose/Santa Clara County and western Massachusetts. Advocates will share their strategies, progress, and successes, as well as lessons learned, challenges, and next steps to improve their efforts and build momentum. Participants are encouraged to review a selection of relevant materials before the webinar. Register for the webinar here.
A Multi-Sector Approach to Addressing Green Gentrification - Affordable Housing Briefing
- Virtual Session - 6/12, Noon - 2 pm
