Bay State Can't Afford Chapter 40B
More than 100,000 residents of Massachusetts recently signed the initiative petition to repeal Chapter 40B, setting the stage for voters to repeal the failed housing law in the November elections.
Between now and then, voters can expect to be bombarded with false messaging from the well-funded development interests that profit from 40B. They have already spent millions over the last decade protecting their cash cow. But because Chapter 40B has been around for more than 40 years, its true effectiveness can be measured by a single, simple statistic: housing affordability. Over the last 40 years, Massachusetts has fallen to just 47th nationally in housing affordability. Case closed.
Failed Experiment
Whatever Chapter 40B set out to do, it has failed. In fact, due largely to the development lobby, Chapter 40B creates fewer affordable units now than it ever has before.
Chapter 40B creates less affordable housing than virtually any other affordable housing program in the state, yet it costs taxpayers more than all those other programs combined!
The profiteers will try to convince you that Chapter 40B produces lots of affordable housing and that without it, those who need help will be forsaken. They will form groups that claim to care about affordable housing and parade actors across the television whose lives have supposedly been saved by the hero, Chapter 40B. It’s the same ruse they have used for 40 years. It is designed to tug at your heart strings and make you forget about the reality: Massachusetts is just 47th in housing affordability.
In fact, Chapter 40B is so ineffective, that Massachusetts’ affordability has gotten worse since its passage.
In addition, virtually every review of the law has found widespread fraud and abuse. The Massachusetts Inspector General even censured the state for not just allowing, but encouraging the abuses to prop up the construction industry. But the IG isn’t the only one who has taken issue with Chapter 40B. Task forces, Senate committees, legislators, and government watchdog groups have all chastised the program.
So don’t fall for the misinformation campaign that has been the staple of predatory developers and others who profit from Chapter 40B, as it will surely intensify. When you follow the money, it becomes clear that the only people supporting Chapter 40B are those who profit from it, at the expense of those who need real help.
Even worse, Chapter 40B violates Proposition 2 ½, which protects us from unfunded mandates. Unfor-tunately 40B was passed 10 years before Prop 2 ½, grandfathering it and allowing it to stand as the state’s only legal unfunded mandate. Further, this is exactly why reform is not an option. Any reform to the 40B law would require compliance with Prop 2 ½, essentially striking it down.
Don’t be fooled by the propaganda. Chapter 40B costs hundreds of millions of dollars each year in direct funding and tax subsidies and produces a pathetic number of “arguably-affordable” units.
It is time to repeal this failed and environmentally harmful law and provide real affordable housing solutions that will raise Massachusetts from its dismal ranking of just 47th in housing affordability.
Craig Chemaly is the director of the Slow Growth Initiative in Chelmsford. He can be reached at craig@slow-growth.org.
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