We hope everyone has been enjoying the fantastic weather this weekend as we look toward the end of the school year, the start of summer, and Town Meeting just quickly approaching.
Town Meeting Starts Tuesday
Brookline’s Spring Town Meeting starts Tuesday night, May 28, at 7:00 PM in the Brookline High School Auditorium (also broadcast live by the Brookline Interactive Group), and is expected to run for three or four evenings (May 29, 30, and possibly June 4).
As announced last week, here are Brookline for Everyone’s article endorsements.
Article 11 – Community Preservation Act Committee (CPAC) Recommendations
- Recommendation: NO ACTION on dividing the question, and most importantly FAVORABLE ACTION on all CPA Committee recommendations as proposed in the article
Article 12 – Senior Tax Work-Off
- Recommendation: FAVORABLE ACTION on the article
Article 13 – Accessory Dwelling Unit Zoning By-Law Change
- Recommendation: FAVORABLE ACTION on the main motion
Article 14 – Reducing Zoning Barriers to Electrification
- Recommendation: FAVORABLE ACTION on the article
You can read our detailed explanations here. We encourage you to reach out to your Town Meeting Members and encourage them to support each of these important Warrant Articles and zoning changes. You can find the full list of Town Meeting Members (and their email addresses!) at this link. Many Town Meeting Members rarely hear from constituents, and genuinely want to consider their perspectives. Make sure to sign your name and address so they know you live in their precinct!
Abundant Housing Massachusetts Lobby Day: Building a Massachusetts for Everyone
Our friends at Abundant Housing Massachusetts (AHMA) will be holding their first ever lobby day on Wednesday, May 29th at the State House beginning at 9:15am, and we hope Brookline will come out to support the Governor’s proposed Affordable Homes Act. The act includes money for subsidized housing across the state (both new homes and crucial funding for repairs and renovations for current low income housing), funding for many fantastic housing initiatives, the legalization of Accessory Dwelling Units across the state, a local option Real Estate Transfer Fee, and more. Brookline for Everyone strongly supports this legislation, and this lobby day is a great opportunity to let our elected representatives know that you do too!
The lobby day agenda includes a rally with some excellent speakers, including Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll, Secretary of Housing and Livable Communities Ed Augustus, Brookline for Racial Justice and Equity executive director Raul Fernandez, AHMA executive director Jesse Kanson-Benanav, and many more from across the state. There will be lunch provided and AHMA swag available too!
Click here to learn more and register for the event. And if you still aren’t sure, here’s a blog post from AHMA organizer Joyce Mandell on why our voices are needed.
If you can’t make AHMA’s lobby day, you can take action in support of the Real Estate Transfer Fee with Progressive Mass by contacting your representatives by using this easy form.
Housing Article Round-Up for the Long Weekend
Holiday Weekend Reading
- The Boston Business Journal editorial board published a call to pass the local option real estate transfer fee. “The need for transfer fees to fund housing hasn’t diminished” was published on May 23. You can read the text here.
- The Executive Director of Abundant Housing MA, Jesse Kanson-Benanav, has an op-ed in The Lowell Sun published on May 9 making the case for passing statewide ADU legalization. While it’s important that Brookline improves our local ADU by-law to make ADU construction more viable, statewide legislation is an important path forward to make in-law suites and backyard cottages more prevalent. Read the piece, “ADUs one of the easiest ways out of housing crisis,” here.
- Yesterday’s Boston Globe included a profile of suburban pro-housing groups and the broader momentum across the state to implement vital reforms to legalize more housing options and create diverse housing opportunities across the income spectrum. Read “The YIMBYs are coming, to the suburbs,” here.
- Stepping beyond the boundaries of Massachusetts to see how other states are addressing similar housing crises, a recent piece in Governing highlights the fantastic work being done in Colorado by Governor Jared Polis and their state legislature. The legislation is “designed to promote transit-oriented development, allow accessory dwelling units, lift parking requirements and home-occupancy limits, and provide new protections against eviction for tenants.” Read “Colorado Breaks Its Logjam on Housing Policy” for the whole story, and how they got it done.
- And finally, here’s a fun piece from Vox reporter Rachel M. Cohen (her stuff is always great!) on converting abandoned malls and strip centers across the country into housing. Check out her piece here – “America is full of abandoned malls. What if we turned them into housing?”.