Greetings everyone,
Brookline’s 2025 Spring Town Meeting has now ended after four (long) nights at the Brookline High School Auditorium — and we are delighted to report that all our priorities were approved! We are especially thrilled that Warrant Article 24, the Home Rule Petition (HRP) for a Real Estate Transfer Fee sponsored by several B4E activists, including lead petitioner Alec Lebovitz and your humble editor, passed convincingly with 60% of the vote. With WA 24, Brookline becomes the 20th municipality to petition the Legislature for local authority to implement a RETF to support affordable housing. It also signals our strong support for statewide “enabling” legislation, supported by Governor Healey, that would give every city and town in Massachusetts that authority. WA 24 directs half the RETF proceeds to the Affordable Housing Trust, with the balance to the Town’s general fund. Next step is at the Legislature; we will keep you posted on their progress, though this is unlikely to see much activity until the end of the current 2-year legislative session in the spring/summer of 2026.
In addition, B4E’s other recommendations were all successful, including:
- WA 10, approving $4,537,602 of allocations from the Community Preservation Act, including $500,000 for much-needed renovations at the Brookline Housing Authority’s Egmont Street complex;
- WAs 14 and 15, which ease the way through zoning and preservation rules to make reasonable accommodations for persons with disabilities;
- WA 16, increasing the spaces for larger bike parking in new construction;
- WAs 18 and 19, aimed at further reducing the use (hopefully to zero!) of plastic takeout containers and accessories, and single-use plastic bags, in Brookline;
- WA 26, supporting statewide legislation to prevent the forced payment of broker fees by tenants;
- Finally, as we had recommended, Town Meeting convincingly rejected (by a vote of over 75%) WA 30, which would have created a new committee to review the work of the already concluded Moderator’s Committee of Forms of Government.
Boards and Commissions: Upcoming Meetings of Note
With Town Meeting behind us, the Town Calendar for all our Boards and Commissions has filled up again. We try to mention the ones here we think are most relevant to our mission, but you can always see the full list, review the posted agendas and documents, and register for the Zoom meetings on the Town’s official listing here.
- The Affordable Housing Overlay District (AHOD) Study Subcommittee will be meeting this Wednesday, June 11 at 7:30pm to review and potentially approve their final report to the Housing Advisory Board (HAB) recommending strategies to create an AHOD in Brookline. You can review the DRAFT final report here, and click here for the agenda and Zoom registration info. If you’d like to help advocate for an Affordable Housing strategy like proposed in the report, let us know!
- Also on Wednesday, at 7:00 pm, the Zoning Board of Appeals continues its public hearing, via Zoom, the Chapter 40B application to build 103 residential units in Chestnut Hill on the block bounded by Hammond, Sheafe, and Heath Streets, with 26 of the 103 homes restricted as affordable at 80% Area Median Income. We are excited to see a substantial development of new homes close to Boylston Street (Route 9) and the commercial district abutting the Newton line. The project background and plans are available on the Brookline Town website here, and you can register for the Zoom meeting here. If you are supportive of more housing at this site, as we are, we encourage you to attend or submit written comments for the ZBA c/o Nicole Pare at npare@brooklinema.gov and Polly Selkoe at pselkoe@brooklinema.gov.
- The Chestnut Hill Commercial Area Study Community Advisory Group will meet in-person next Monday, June 16, at 6:30pm. The hybrid meeting will be at Town Hall, Room 103 and via Zoom; the Zoom registration link hasn’t been posted yet, so check here next week.
We expect this meeting will consider the Town’s targets for net new revenue growth to meet our current financial and housing affordability challenges. Prioritized in Brookline’s 2005 Comprehensive Plan (yup not a typo, that was 20 years ago!), this Study Area continues to be one of Brookline’s few opportunities for mixed-use development, including housing, retail, and commercial uses.
We need the Town to move aggressively to allow mixed-use development that will make a significant annual contribution to our tax base. We urge you to attend to learn more, and to make it clear we need action this year, not 5 or 10 or 20 years from now.
- The Comprehensive Plan Steering Committee Meeting originally scheduled for Monday, June 9, has been POSTPONED; currently, no information is available about the next meeting.
Save the Date: B4E Summer Garden Party on July 13
Join Brookline for Everyone for a Summer Garden Party on Sunday, July 13 from 2 – 5pm off Pleasant Street (exact address sent upon RSVP). Come celebrate a successful election campaign and relax after Spring Town Meeting. Bring a friend, grab a drink, and unwind with other pro-housing friends and neighbors. Families welcome. RSVP here!
What We’re Reading: Learn more about “Social Housing” in New England
We encourage you to check out this article from the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies, The Evolving Landscape of Social Housing in New England: What We Learned, which summarizes a recent meeting on the growing interest across the region in social housing models that emphasize long-term affordability, public ownership, and democratic control. While the article highlights new public and nonprofit efforts to build and preserve affordable housing, it also underscores the structural barriers, especially restrictive zoning, that stand in the way of scaling such solutions. Speakers emphasized that in order to meet demand and support inclusive, equitable communities, municipalities must not only invest in social housing but also reform local zoning to allow more housing of all types to be built. For Brookline and other high-cost communities, this dual approach — expanding social housing and enabling more overall housing production — is essential to addressing the affordability crisis.
Thanks, and have a great week,
Jonathan Klein, on behalf of Brookline for Everyone