BOSTON
- Friday, January 15, 2020 - Mayor Martin J.
Walsh today celebrated the passage of legislation
that will provide the City of Boston with more flexibility to leverage the
strong development market to fund affordable housing and workforce training
programs. Originally introduced by the Mayor as a Home
Rule Petition in January 2019, he signed "An Act to Further Leverage
Commercial Development to Build Housing, Create Jobs, and Preserve
Inclusionary Development" with the support of the City Council in
September 2019, and the legislation was sponsored by Representative Kevin
Honan at the State House. The legislation was signed by Governor Baker on
Thursday, January 14, 2021.
"In
Boston we will continue to use every tool that we have to make sure that
Boston's strong growth is reaching all of our residents by creating
affordable housing and investing in workforce training," said Mayor
Walsh. "This historic legislation will strengthen Boston's
Inclusionary Development Policy and linkage program, and allow us to continue
to leverage millions of dollars in funding for programs that positively
impact the lives of Boston's residents. I thank the many advocates, the
Boston City Council, and the Legislature for helping us reach this
milestone."
In
December 2019, the Mayor testified at the State House
alongside residents and workers in support of the legislation.
"This
is an incredible opportunity to step up on the production of affordable
housing in our City and meet the challenges that have been underscored by
the pandemic," said Vanessa Calderon-Rosado, CEO, Inquilinos Boricuas
en Acción (IBA). "I'm grateful to the Mayor for his leadership
in keeping this measure front and center, and to the State legislature and
Governor Baker for taking it through to the finish line.
"The
Job Training Alliance is thrilled to be able to collaborate with the City
on a re-employment strategy for the many Bostonians who are currently out
of work," said Amy Nishman, Senior Vice President of Strategy at JVS.
"Job training is an integral service that moves low-income residents
into and up in the labor market."
"It
is important that all our residents are benefitting from the increase in
development across the city. With greater flexibility in our linkage fees,
we can further leverage a proven resource to meaningfully expand our
affordable housing stock," said Chairman Kevin Honan. "This is
critical funding for affordable housing and workforce development programs,
both of which have become increasingly important during this pandemic."
Linkage Updates
Boston's
Linkage program provides funding for affordable housing and workforce
training through payments by large-scale commercial real estate
development. While previously, the Boston Planning & Development Agency
(BPDA) was only allowed to adjust Linkage every three years based on the
Consumer Price Index (CPI), the new law will allow Boston to adjust the
required payment and program guidelines, including annual adjustments,
allowing for Linkage to be more closely aligned with the market and
offering additional opportunities for the creation of affordable housing
and workforce development.
Currently,
commercial developments over 100,000 square feet pay $10.81 per square
foot, of which $9.03 is for housing and $1.78 is for jobs Linkage. The
money collected is made available through competitive funding rounds
administered by the Neighborhood Housing Trust and the Mayor's Office of Workforce Development.
Since
2014, new development has generated over $80 million in linkage to support
affordable housing and job training, and provided industry-recognized job
training to over 2,000 Boston residents annually. Since the onset of
the COVID-19 pandemic, the Neighborhood Jobs Trust
has dedicated $2.4 million to emergency supports for workforce and
education programs, as well as specialized job training for workers
preparing to enter the IT/tech industry.
Since
inception in 1986, linkage has produced more than $200 million for
affordable housing and workforce training.
Inclusionary Development Policy Updates
The
new law will also allow Boston to codify its Inclusionary Development
Policy (IDP) into the Boston Zoning Code. Under the current policy, IDP
requires that developers of buildings with 10 or more units seeking zoning
relief or building on City of Boston-owned land set aside a percentage of
their on-site units as income-restricted, create off-site income-restricted
units, or make a payment to the IDP fund.
As
the BPDA completes comprehensive planning in Boston's
neighborhoods and updates
Boston's existing zoning, more market-rate residential projects may become
'as of right' and be exempt from IDP requirements. The legislation would
allow Boston to strengthen its IDP as a strategy to capture affordable
housing units and funding from projects which are zoning compliant,
expanding the work under Mayor Walsh to create and preserve Boston's
affordable housing.
The
IDP has led to the creation of 2,917 units of stable, income-restricted
housing, and $89.2 million in contributions to the IDP Fund since its
inception in 2000. When combined with other affordable housing resources,
the IDP has supported the completion or preservation of 1,847 additional
units of income-restricted housing. In total, 4,764 income-restricted units
have been created through the IDP.
Under
Mayor Walsh, the BPDA is leading an unprecedented number of planning
studies, each guided by Imagine Boston 2030
the first city-wide master plan in 50 years aimed at guiding growth.
Currently, there are neighborhood planning studies moving forward in Charlestown,
Downtown,
Dorchester's Glover's Corner,
East Boston,
Mattapan,
Newmarket
and Allston-Brighton's Western Avenue,
and since 2014, planning guidelines have been passed for PLAN: JP/Rox,
PLAN: South Boston Dorchester Avenue,
and PLAN: Nubian Square.
In
2020 alone, new development approved by BPDA is generating 2,826
income-restricted units, over $5.4 million in new Inclusionary Development
Policy (IDP) funds, over $43.2 million in Linkage fees to support
affordable housing, and over $8.5 million in Linkage fees to support job
training programs. This legislation will allow the BPDA to further leverage
development to increase these streams of funding.
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