Enacted in 1969, Massachusetts’ Comprehensive Permit Law makes it easier for developers to obtain local approvals for housing projects that include affordable units. The law allows them to apply for a single comprehensive zoning permit if they agree to make at least 20% of the units affordable to low- and moderate-income people and such units comprise less than 10% of the town’s housing stock.
The law has stirred up much controversy over its 40-year history because it allows developers to override stricter zoning bylaws such as large lot zoning and prohibitions on multifamily housing. (Does this sound familiar? It should. Connecticut’s Affordable Housing Land Use Appeals Procedure (PA 89-311, codified at CGS § 8-30g) was modeled on this Massachusetts law.) Last November, Massachusetts voters defeated a ballot initiative that would have repealed the law. In the final tally, 58% of the voters—about 1.2 million—rejected repeal.
The 2011 issue of Housing Trust Fund Project describes the Massachusetts law and the campaign to repeal it.
