What is Affordable housing?

Affordable housing, also known as subsidized housing or income-restricted housing, can refer to both rented and owner-occupied units. These housing units are subject to the following two restrictions-

• It is income-restricted, such that households can only rent or own the unit if their household has a total income below a certain threshold.
• It is price-capped, such that the seller or landlord cannot charge more than a certain amount.

Learn more about how income-restricted housing works in the Boston area here.
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View the specific Boston area income limits and price caps here.

How much affordable housing does waltham have?

Waltham has approximately 1600 units of income-restricted housing, representing approximately 6% of Waltham's total housing supply. There are an additional 200 units currently permitted to be constructed in the next few years through Massachusetts' 40B law.

Other sources of affordable housing include-

• Inclusionary Zoning, which has produced 0 units of housing since the law was most recently updated in 2020
• Waltham's Municipal Housing Trust Fund, which is currently being used to fund 2 units of affordable housing at the Fernald property

Learn more about 40B and Waltham's Subsidized Housing Inventory here.

​Learn more about Inclusionary Zoning here.

Even without subsidized housing, many low income households live in market-rate rental housing thanks to housing vouchers

If a low-income household pays more than 30-40% of its income towards rent, it can receive a housing voucher from a housing agency. This allows the low-income household to live in market-rate housing. The low-income household will not pay more than 30-40% of its income towards housing costs- instead, the housing agency will pay the difference to the landlord.

There are many state and federal voucher programs (such as Section 8) which provide rental assistance to hundreds of Waltham families.

​Waltham also has its own local rental voucher program.