Affordable Housing

For the past two years, I have served as the Select Board's representative to the Natick Affordable Housing Trust (NAHT), an independent legal entity organized under M.G.L. Chapter 44, section 55c, which requires a representative from a town's Select Board (or their designee). With the NAHT, I have promoted affordable housing in Natick by supporting zoning reforms that encouraged the development of different types of housing options and by proactively working with the Building Commissioner, the Director of Community and Economic Development, and the Health Department to design an accessory dwelling unit (ADU) bylaw which passed 2024 Fall Annual Town Meeting. By allowing for more multi-family housing, ADUs, and mixed-use developments, the town can increase the availability of affordable homes while maintaining its character. 

The Commonwealth requires every municipality to maintain at least 10% of its year-round housing stock (per the national census) as "affordable" (accessible to incomes at or under the 80% area mean income level). If a town's housing stock does not meet this threshold, MGL Chapter 40B allows developers to override certain local zoning restrictions, particularly those related to housing density, if they allocate 20 to 25% of the new units as affordable under state guidelines. This law limits the extent to which local officials can modify or influence the developer’s plans, giving them only minimal authority over project approvals. 

Developers have two options when pursuing a 40B project: a friendly or an unfriendly approach. In a friendly 40B development, the developer collaborates with town boards to address community concerns by reducing density, increasing setbacks, and designing buildings that complement the surrounding neighborhood. A great example is the St. Patrick's Parish development at 45 East Central St., where the Select Board negotiated a desirable Developer Agreement with the Stonegate Group, and the Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) granted the comprehensive permit, allowing them to build.

If the town and developer cannot work cooperatively, the developer can pursue relief through the state and directly by-pass local zoning. These types of developments tend to be very dense, out of character, and do not necessarily incorporate abutter concerns as their permit is granted through the state, not the town's ZBA.

Another effective approach is to leverage partnerships with nonprofit organizations and housing developers to create affordable housing projects. The town owned a lot through a tax title taking on North Main Street which is a relatively undesirable lot in that it had pre-existing non-conformities and is very narrow. Working with town administration, I supported a warrant article at Town Meeting that transferred the lot from the Treasurer to the Select Board and from the Select Board to the Natick Affordable Housing Trust which will issue an RFP in March to nonprofit developers such as Habitat for Humanity to build a single-family home. That home will count towards the town's Subsidized Housing Inventory (SHI) and contribute to keeping Natick in "Safe Harbor."

As of February, 2025, the town reached Safe Harbor with precisely 10.00%, but that may change during the year as new houses are built or developed. In 2023, The town had 1,494 affordable units/14,052 total housing units or 10.63% in its SHI. In 2024, that percentage fell to 9.6%. The 5 Auburn Street development's 32 units will not count towards the town's SHI until occupancy permits are issued, likely in the winter 2027/2028.

Five years of service on the Zoning Board of Appeals and three on the Select Board provided the experience needed to understand the complex issues surrounding the need for affordable housing and the need to keep "unfriendly 40B" developments at bay.