Permitting, Zoning Paths, and Community Buy-In

Phil Cohen, Principal at Boston Communities, has over a decade of affordable and mixed-income housing development experience working in both the public and private sectors. Phil’s projects include over 4,000 units of housing and leverage local, state, and federal resources to create affordable and market-rate rental and ownership housing for families and elderly adults. Phil has worked with Low Income Housing Tax Credits, Historic Tax Credits, Workforce Housing funds, Common Wealth Builders funds, RAD and Section 18 conversions, and myriad local funding sources. In the public section, Phil wrote the 2015 Inclusionary Development Policy and worked on other middle-income housing policies including Linkage, density bonuses, and compact unit policies, while permitting over $2B and over 4M square feet of construction including thousands of housing units.

The conversation starts with the impact of the Affordable Homes Act of 2024, which infused $5.16 billion into Massachusetts' affordable housing initiatives, strengthening state support and ensuring a robust pipeline for housing projects. Cohen elaborates on how this additional funding has facilitated the creation of diverse housing opportunities that serve communities better by preventing displacement and offering mixed-income housing solutions near transit-oriented areas.

Cohen discusses specific projects such as the Roslindale development and shares insights into project funding, acquisition, and the complex approval process required to make such housing a reality. Furthermore, the discussion navigates through pressing topics like rent control and how it can potentially distort housing economics if not implemented thoughtfully. 

Key Takeaways:

• The Affordable Homes Act of 2024 has significantly bolstered Massachusetts's affordable housing landscape, allowing ongoing funding and development.
• Transit-oriented and gateway cities provide strategic locations for housing development, optimizing existing infrastructure to improve accessibility to jobs and resources.
• Phil Cohen emphasizes the value of mixed-income developments as they create socio-economic mobility and prevent concentrated pockets of poverty in urban areas.
• Affordable housing relies on complex funding mechanisms and partnerships with communities and multiple stakeholders to address displacement and achieve sustainable growth.

Notable Quotes:

• “We're all helping to create affordability in communities that really need affordability to prevent displacement, keep people in their homes, keep people in the neighborhoods.”
• “What we don't want to see is pockets of poverty where all the rich kids are on this side of the street, and all the poor kids are on this side of the street."

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