What is Massachusetts' 40b law?
Chapter 40B is a law in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts which allows private developers to bypass a city's local zoning restrictions to construct multifamily housing, under the following conditions:
*the city's housing stock is updated every 10 years based on the Decennial Census
**even though as few as 20-25% of 40B development units are subject to affordability restricitons, cities can count 100% of 40B units in their Subsidized Housing Inventory for the purpose of avoiding future 40B developments
- At least 20-25% of the newly developed units have long-term affordability restrictions
- Less than 10% of the city's housing stock* is affordable**
*the city's housing stock is updated every 10 years based on the Decennial Census
**even though as few as 20-25% of 40B development units are subject to affordability restricitons, cities can count 100% of 40B units in their Subsidized Housing Inventory for the purpose of avoiding future 40B developments
What's is the status of 40b development in waltham?
As of June 29, 2023, Waltham has a Subsidized Housing Inventory of 1,766 units, which is only 6.68% of the city's total housing stock. Because of this, housing developers are allowed to bypass many of Waltham's zoning laws in order to construct multifamily housing, so long as at least 20-25% of the units have affordability restrictions. Here is a list of approved 40B developments which are currently permitted for construction in Waltham:
- Alexan Waltham, 73 Pond Street
- 210 units, 53 of which will have permanent affordability restrictions
- Broadstone 305, 305 Winter Street
- 314 units, 79 of which will have permanent affordability restrictions
- Leland House, 21 Newton Street
- 68 units, all of which will have permanent affordability restrictions
At the conclusion of this construction, Waltham will have a Subsidized Housing Inventory of 2,563 units, which will be slightly less than 10% of the city's 2020 total housing stock. Waltham previously achieved, but has now lost, "safe harbor" status because a 40B development which was permitted at 1486 Main St went longer than a year without pulling a building permit.