Massachusetts SJC backs Healey's housing law, but requires new regs
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Milton lost the fight against the Healey administration's housing production law after the state's highest court deemed it constitutional.
Why it matters: The Supreme Judicial Court's ruling marks a victory for Gov. Healey, who heralded the 2023 law as a solution to the state's worsening housing crisis.
Yes, but: The state has to redo the guidelines to enforce the law after officials failed to file public notices during the process, per the ruling.
- The bureaucratic screw-up may create a hurdle as the state tries to expand its housing stock near MBTA stations, a hallmark of the law.
Catch up quick: Attorney General Andrea Campbell sued Milton in February 2024, after the town rejected a zoning plan to implement the new law.
- Milton countersued, arguing the law unfairly gave the state’s housing department the power to make the town implement “transformative zoning changes” and that Campbell didn’t have the authority to sue over Milton’s decision.
- 116 other communities approved zoning changes to comply with the law as the legal fight escalated.
State of play: The court deemed the new law constitutional and ruled that every MBTA community, including Milton, needs to have a zoning law that makes way for multifamily housing near its train station.
- But the regulations to enforce the law need to be redone because the state’s housing department failed to send public notices and a small business impact statement to the secretary of state’s office.
- Failing to file those notices makes the regulations null, the court ruled.
What’s next: The state's housing department will file emergency regulations by the end of this week, Healey said in a statement.