Policy Order O-29

WHEREAS: This City Council has learned that in November voters will decide to keep or repeal 40B the Affordable Housing Law by voting on ballot question two; and

WHEREAS: In the last ten years 40B has created eighty percent of the affordable housing in Massachusetts outside of its major cities; and

WHEREAS: 40B has led to the creation of 58,000 new homes and of those homes 29,000 are reserved for households earning less than eighty percent of the area median income; and

WHEREAS: The Affordable Housing Law gives communities the opportunity to build new housing and offers the citizens of Massachusetts a choice about where they live; and

WHEREAS: Cities towns and municipalities who utilize the Affordable Housing Law are obligated to dedicate ten percent of the new housing built to affordable housing and from 1997 to now under 40B the number of communities that have reached that ten percent threshold has jumped from 24 to 51, an additional 40 communities above eight percent; and

WHEREAS: In the middle of a recession and a housing crisis restricting access to affordable housing to vulnerable residents of Massachusetts means working families and seniors will be left with even fewer options; now therefore be it

ORDERED: That this City Council go on record urging its residents to vote no on 2 to preserve the affordable housing law; and be it further

ORDERED: That the City Clerk be and hereby is requested to forward a suitably engrossed copy of this resolution to Governor Deval Patrick and the Cambridge Legislative Delegation on behalf of the entire City Council.