H1576 — File 26-0282

1 of 1 HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 4002 FILED ON: 1/17/2025 HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 1576 The Commonwealth of Massachusetts _________________ PRESENTED BY: Christopher J. Worrell _________________ To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General Court assembled: The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill: An Act relative to creating a permanent affordability homeownership program. _______________ PETITION OF: NAME: DISTRICT/ADDRESS: DATE ADDED: Christopher J. Worrell 5th Suffolk 1/17/2025 Samantha Montaño 15th Suffolk 2/7/2025 Lindsay N. Sabadosa 1st Hampshire 2/21/2025 James B. Eldridge Middlesex and Worcester 3/4/2025 Vanna Howard 17th Middlesex 3/5/2025 Mike Connolly 26th Middlesex 4/8/2025 Russell E. Holmes 6th Suffolk 4/8/2025 Amy Mah Sangiolo 11th Middlesex 6/17/2025 James C. Arena-DeRosa 8th Middlesex 6/25/2025 Hannah Bowen 6th Essex 7/21/2025 William F. MacGregor 10th Suffolk 8/1/2025 Natalie M. Higgins 4th Worcester 8/8/2025

1 of 3 HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 4002 FILED ON: 1/17/2025 HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 1576 By Representative Worrell of Boston, a petition (accompanied by bill, House, No. 1576) of Christopher J. Worrell and others for legislation to create a program for the development and construction of permanently affordable homeownership opportunities for low and moderate income buyers. Housing. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts _______________ In the One Hundred and Ninety-Fourth General Court (2025-2026) _______________ An Act relative to creating a permanent affordability homeownership program. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows: 1 Chapter 23B of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2022 Official Edition, is hereby 2 amended by adding the following new section:- 3 Section 31. (a) for the purposes of this section, the following words shall, unless the 4 context clearly requires otherwise, have the following meanings:- 5 “Executive office” shall mean The Executive Office of Housing and Livable 6 Communities. 7 “Low and moderate income” shall mean persons whose income is not less than 70 8 percent, or more than 120 percent of the area median income as defined by the United States 9 Department of Housing and Urban Development. 10 ''Mixed-use development'', development containing a mix of residential uses and non- 11 residential uses, including, without limitation, commercial, institutional, industrial or other uses.

2 of 3 12 “Permanently affordable” shall mean a housing unit that has an affordable housing 13 restriction as defined in Section 31 of Chapter 184 of the General Laws which has the benefit of 14 Section 32 of said Chapter 184 that shall be in place for not less than 99 years. 15 “Project of appropriate size” shall mean a development project that has no less than 1 and 16 no more than 25 housing units. 17 (b)(1) Subject to appropriation, the executive office shall administer a program known as 18 the permanent affordability homeownership program. The executive office shall administer the 19 program statewide in order to aid in the development and construction of permanently affordable 20 homeownership opportunities for low and moderate income buyers in the Commonwealth. The 21 commonwealth shall accept funds from the appropriate federal authorities for said program. 22 (2) The executive office shall promulgate rules and regulations in order to establish the 23 process through which applications to the program will be made, how funding will be allocated 24 and the amount of money to be allocated per housing unit, provided the following: 25 (i) Funds expended from the program may only be used to fund the creation of 26 permanently affordable homeownership units; provided however, that the funds can be 27 used to fund permanently affordable homeownership units within a mixed-use 28 development project. 29 (ii) Funds expended for the program may only be used on permanently affordable 30 homeownership units affordable to low and moderate income households 31 (iii) Funds expended from the program may only be used to fund projects of an 32 appropriate size

3 of 3 33 (c) The secretary of housing and livable communities shall report annually to the clerks 34 of the house of representatives and the senate, who shall forward the report to the house of 35 representatives and the senate and the chairs of the joint committee on housing on the activities 36 and status of the program. The report shall include a list and description of all projects that 37 received funds under the program, the amount of each grant, the number of housing units created 38 by each grant, the number of housing units created at each affordability level, and the size of the 39 projects funded.