Boston's planning chief says the city needs 'more balance' on affordable-unit rules. The council's own proposals have been waiting since February

Boston's chief of planning has reopened a debate over how much affordable housing the city requires developers to build. Speaking at an MIT Center for Real Estate symposium on Oct. 16, Kairos Shen said the city has "a lot of very strong checks" but not "enough balance," Cambridge Day reported. He said he personally supported easing affordability requirements when projects are hard to finance, and called himself "an advocate for more balance."

On Oct. 29, WBUR's Morning Edition asked Mayor Michelle Wu about what the station called controversial comments from her planning chief on the city's inclusionary development policy.

Why it matters

The inclusionary development policy, or IDP, requires many new market-rate projects to set aside income-restricted homes, build them nearby or pay into a city fund. The Boston Globe reported in September that Boston's target is 17% of units for low- and middle-income households, plus 3% for households with federal Section 8 vouchers. Builders say the rule is slowing construction. Supporters say it is one of the few ways lower-income people can keep living in new buildings. In September, the Globe reported, Wu said she was not considering lowering the requirement.

Shen's remarks at MIT went beyond the IDP. Asked whether government should build housing directly, he said, "I wouldn't rule it out," according to Cambridge Day. He also questioned whether private developers do it better.

What the administration has done instead

Rather than change the requirement, the administration has given developers other options. On Oct. 15 the BPDA board was scheduled to vote on more than $31 million in property tax breaks for four "demonstration" projects expected to start 1,400 homes in 2027, Boston Policy Notes reported. The newsletter said two of those projects were allowed to pay about $22 million into the Neighborhood Housing Trust in place of building half of their income-restricted units on site.

What our records add: the council's IDP items

Three council proposals on the policy are in committee:

• Docket 0432: City Councilor Ed Flynn's resolution supporting a temporary cut in the requirement to 13%. City Councilor Enrique Pepén objected to a vote on Feb. 25, and it went to the Housing and Community Development Committee, where it has stayed for 247 days. Flynn's letter on a five-year rollback was placed on file the same day (docket 0385).
• Docket 1717: Flynn's order for a hearing on San Francisco's reduced requirements, filed Sept. 16 with City Councilors Erin Murphy, John FitzGerald and Sharon Durkan. It is in the same committee, with no hearing date. Flynn told the council that San Francisco's supervisors voted 9-2 in July to cut that city's on-site requirement from 15% to 5%. "I'm not saying that we need to go back to 5%," he said (watch at 1:58:20). He said the 17% plus 3% was "impacting" developers' ability to start projects (1:58:49).
• Docket 0479: City Councilor Miniard Culpepper's zoning text amendment to widen where developers may build off-site IDP units. It has 11 sponsors and has been in the Planning, Development and Transportation Committee since March 4.

The council has also voted on IDP money. On July 8 it voted 11-0 to let the Mayor's Office of Housing accept $30 million in payments to the IDP fund (docket 0968). On June 10 it adopted Flynn's request for a count of all units and affordable units approved over the past 10 years, by neighborhood and council district, 10-0 (docket 1192).

The Housing and Community Development Committee has held two meetings this year, according to the council's records, most recently on Sept. 29.

What's next

No hearing has been posted on any of the three items. Culpepper's amendment, as a zoning text change, would also need action by the city's Zoning Commission. The city described Wu's draft housing plan, first reported by the Globe in September, as preliminary, and the BPDA board meets next on Nov. 12.