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Moore pushes 40B affordable housing reforms September 19, 2008...In a public hearing held yesterday by the Senate Committee on Post Audit and Oversight, Sen. Richard T. Moore, D-Uxbridge, also a committee member, suggested several reforms for the controversial affordable housing initiative-also known as Chapter 40B. The goal of 40B is to provide affordable housing in communities that have 10% or less of affordable housing available. Chapter 40B, which became law in 1969, has created approximately 26,000 affordable units for Massachusetts residents, according to yesterday's testimony of Dan O'Connell, the Secretary of Housing and Economic Development. The law also eases zoning restrictions for developers, who in turn set aside 25% of their units for residents that are earning less than 80% of their respective town or city's median income. The goal of 10% has been met in only 54 of the state's 351 communities, with 34 other communities just below the threshold, according to O'Connell's testimony. The rest of the Commonwealth's 263 communities are well below the 10% goal, including all of the towns in Sen. Moore's Worcester & Norfolk District. Despite the successes of the 40B projects, Sen. Moore and many other lawmakers have criticized the initiative as abusing communities' independence with zoning, and posing unwelcomed threats to infrastructure, resources, and economic developments. Additionally, Inspector General Gregory Sullivan testified that the Administration's new guideline of limiting developers to a 20% profit rate has encouraged them to "understate profit, and overstate expenses." Sullivan testified that only 53 of the "hundreds" of 40B housing projects had gone through a cost certification process to determine the validity of spending. From these same investigations, Sullivan found that some developers were overpaid by a total of $6 million, and had listed countless bogus expenses. Sullivan estimates that a complete audit of all projects could net in over $100 million to communities that hosted a 40B project. "Regulations must be clearly enforced on 40B developments to improve transparency for public benefit," Moore stated. "Given the tainted image of an ultimately worthwhile program, it is important that necessary steps are taken to repair public faith in 40B. We need to hold everyone at stake accountable, and make sure that this program gets back on track." In addition to concerns over developers' profits, Moore also questioned whether or not 40B housing units would remain "affordable" under 40B in the future. "Shouldn't all future 40B affordable units remain so for the future, given that the impact on the community remains for an indefinite amount of time?" Moore questioned. "The results certainly do not appear to justify the enormous erosion of local oversight in the housing process, especially given that some of the affordable units created may eventually revert to market rates." Despite the failures of previous Administrations to deal with the blatant abuses and deceit involved with the 40B program, Moore and his colleagues looked forward to reforming past blunders that have been inherited by the current Patrick Administration. "The core of this issue is not who is responsible for past failures-although there have been many-instead, it is what is being done to repair the program's tarnished image," Moore concluded. For more information on Sen. Moore's work in the legislature, please visit www.senatormoore.com. |
