Worcester Tries to Keep and Grow Affordable Housing

Eric Batista, the City Manager for Worcester, wants the city to create a Housing Production Plan (HPP) and Affordable Housing Preservation Program (AHPP), according to a story on MassLive.While not a requirement, a Housing Projection Plan is something most Mass cities have. The HPP sets forth the community’s goals for housing in general and affordable housing in particular. If the state’s Housing and Community Development Department (DHCD) approves a municipality’s HPP, then any decision by that municipality’s Zoning Board of Appeals to deny a comprehensive permit application will be upheld under chapter 40B. Without this, developers can override zoning regs to put in 40B housing.Worcester is well above the requirement of 10% housing stock affordability, but a HPP is still a useful tool to create a plan for development and it helps city officials make development decisions. In 2022, Worcester passed an inclusionary zoning policy that requires all developments with 12 or more units to reserve 10-15% of their housing as “affordable.” Affordable housing means a variety of things, and most broadly means that people earning up to 80% of the AMI can live in those units. As median incomes grow, those “affordable” rents also increase.Some in Worcester are pushing for 60% of the AMI to be the cutoff for housing deemed affordable, rather than 80%.Batista’s Affordable Housing Preservation Program would use $1 million to help preserve currently affordable units that don’t have deed restrictions requiring them to be affordable. The program would give landlords a one-time payment of $15,000 per unit in exchange for a 15 year deed restriction to maintain affordability.