The House’s version of the bill would allow the state to borrow $2 billion more than what Healey sought in her own version of the bill, making the “largest investment in affordable housing and housing production” in state history, House Speaker Ron Mariano said. The House expects to pass the legislation on Wednesday.
Mariano said while the bill attempts to “go big,” he cautioned that it’s no silver bullet to a crisis that officials have said demands hundreds of thousands of new units statewide to address.
”It’s ridiculous to think that you’re going to solve this with one bond issue. I think it’s a beginning of a process,” he told reporters Monday.
The proposal would dedicate $150 million to help municipalities convert commercial properties into multi-unit residential or mixed-use properties, and allow for accessory dwelling units — also known as ADUs or granny flats — up to 900 square feet to be built by-right in all neighbors zoned for single-family development across Massachusetts. It would also boost capital funding for public housing from Healey’s proposal by $500 million.
Healey administration officials have said that they estimate the ADU policy alone could create more than 8,000 ADUs in five years.
The House bill also is seeking to allow $1 billion in borrowing to help expand the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority’s water service area beyond the existing 60 cities and towns it currently serves. A lack of clean water supply is an obstacle for many communities to develop more housing.
Earlier this year Mariano said expanding the service area could bring water to the former South Weymouth Naval Air Station, for example, where redevelopment has been challenged by infrastructure issues. A clean water supply could pave the way for as many as 6,000 new homes there, he said.
In a statement Mariano said Massachusetts has some of the highest housing costs in the country, putting the goal of buying a home out of reach for many.
“With this legislation however, the House is making a concerted effort to change that reality,” the Quincy Democrat said.
Healey’s version of the bond bill, which she filed in October, would allow municipalities to voluntarily impose a fee of 0.5 percent to 2 percent on property sales over $1 million, or those above the county’s median home sales price in places where that exceeds $1 million. It’s a concept Wu has backed for years. She testified in 2023 that if the city’s home rule petition for a transfer fee had passed in 2021, the tax would have collected $100 million for the city’s affordable housing fund.
“We’ve been at this with the transfer fee for a long time, before any statewide legislation was even discussed,” Wu said in an interview last month.
Healey told reporters Monday she had yet to read the bill, and declined to comment on the House’s decision to not include the option for a local transfer tax.
”We offered up a menu of options and ideas and policy initiatives to help spark production. That’s what this is about,” she said, adding: “I’m just glad to know that it’s out.”
The exclusion of the transfer fee language signals a shift in Mariano’s message. In a speech to the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce in March, Mariano stopped short of endorsing the transfer tax, but said it was among the options the House is “considering.”
“If you believe that the issue of housing affordability is genuine,” he said at the time, “then we must explore all options that have the potential to make a real difference.”
Mariano on Monday criticized the transfer tax proposal as an inequitable “patchwork” of attempts to spur more housing that would help some communities, such as Nantucket, but not others.”
“Piecemealing it one by one, by city and town, it’s just not effective, real housing policy and it doesn’t solve the housing crisis that we’re in,” said state Representative Aaron Michlewitz, a North End Democrat and the chair of the House’s budget committee.
Opposition to the idea of a transfer fee has been mounting for months. In April, one of the state’s largest real estate trade groups took aim at the proposal. The Greater Boston Real Estate Board, which represents developers and landlords, announced a “multifaceted digital and grassroots activation campaign” to urge state lawmakers to reject a proposal.
Andrew Brinker of the Globe staff contributed to this report.
Samantha J. Gross can be reached at samantha.gross@globe.com. Follow her @samanthajgross. Matt Stout can be reached at matt.stout@globe.com. Follow him @mattpstout.
Read More: House unveils $6.2b bill, no transfer tax