By Julianne Hester
Massachusetts is in the middle of a housing crisis. Rents and home prices have skyrocketed in recent years, putting homeownership out of reach for many and pushing renters further into financial precarity. According to The Affordable Homes Act, the Commonwealth needs to produce over 200,000 new housing units by 2030 to meet the current demand.
Given the broad and critical impacts of housing on the Commonwealth’s economy and residents, this has understandably become a top issue for local policy makers and constituents alike. But in a state where zoning is tightly controlled at the local level, progress on this objective has been slow—and sometimes contentious.
State-Led Efforts to Reform Zoning
Despite the challenges, recent state efforts have made headway in housing production in recent years.
A few key initiatives include the MBTA Communities Act, which has resulted in the approval of 5,200 new units of housing since its introduction in 2021. Additionally, Cambridge ended single-family-only zoning in February 2025, standardizing the city’s zoning code across all districts to allow multifamily housing by right. Finally, as part of Gov. Healey’s Housing Bond Bill, Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) were permitted by right for one unit up to 900 square feet per single-family lot in every community in Massachusetts. In the first six months of 2025, at least 550 ADUs had been approved in municipalities across the state.
While all of these initiatives indicate progress on housing production goals, Massachusetts still has a ways to go, with housing permits issued at the sixth lowest rate in the nation. In spite of those numbers, residents around Massachusetts have spoken out with concerns of overdevelopment in their community.
Among the 40 provisions certified by the Attorney General to appear on the 2026 ballot, five of them directly addressed zoning, with four aiming to roll back progress made by the MBTA Communities Act.
Here’s a brief overview of the key zoning-related proposals:
Zoning in Massachusetts: Local Control
Zoning in Massachusetts is more decentralized than in many other states. Cities and towns have enormous power to control what gets built and where. This strong tradition of home rule has made comprehensive statewide reform difficult. Where other states can pass top-down housing mandates, Massachusetts frequently faces resistance to change at a local level.
For more on this dynamic, check out some of our previous blog posts on MBTA communities zoning and how local control has historically shaped development patterns across the Commonwealth.
Repeal of MBTA Communities Zoning Requirements
This measure would undo the 2021 MBTA Communities Act, which required 177 cities and towns served by the MBTA to establish at least one district of multifamily zoning by right. The MBTA Communities Act has already resulted in the approval of 5,200 new units of housing across the state. Repealing it would significantly reduce Massachusetts’s ability to meet its housing production goals.
An Act Preserving Local Control of Zoning
This initiative would affirm municipalities’ ability to control the zoning and land use, noting the state government cannot “compel, coerce, incentivize, or otherwise try to induce municipalities to adopt or fail to adopt zoning policies.” In a state that already allows municipalities broad control over local zoning, this act could slow or block desperately needed development, worsening the housing shortage and driving prices higher.
An Act to Prevent Overdevelopment
This proposal would prevent the state from requiring or incentivizing any community to zone for more than 5 units per acre and prevents approval for a property with over 10 units per acre without a special permit granted by a local zoning board of appeals, planning board, or special permit authority. Similar in theme to the other ballot initiatives, this would continue to emphasize local control of zoning, which will have the same effect of blocking housing production.
An Act Reforming the Zoning Process
This initiative would amend Chapter 40A, which is the state’s existing zoning law, adding requirements for zoning board recommendations and increasing voting thresholds for local projects. By increasing the bureaucratic process around housing projects, the result will be cooling development and decreasing production.
A Positive Step: A Law to Allow Single-Family Homes on Small Lots in Areas with Adequate Infrastructure
Proposed by the Pioneer Institute’s Andrew Mikula and also focused on Chapter 40A, this measure would allow for single-family homes to be built on lots as small as 5,000 square feet, around an eighth of an acre. As of 2023, over half of the cities and towns in eastern Massachusetts require lots of an acre for a single-family home. Amid the zoning-focused ballot proposals, this stands out for its positive intended outcome on housing production and would increase density while maintaining single-family zoning districts. In a state like Massachusetts, where land is scarce and housing demand is intense, we cannot afford to reserve so much land for the least efficient form of housing.
What’s at Stake
The state’s housing crisis continues to be a top priority for Massachusetts policy leaders, business community, and residents. A recent poll from MassInc, commissioned by Abundant Housing MA, found that more than 80 percent of Boston’s residents believe that the city needs to build thousands more homes to address the housing shortage. While the poll focused on just Boston residents, housing is a major issue across the state.
While progress has been made through measures including the MBTA Communities Act and Governor Healey’s housing plan, momentum needs to continue in order to enact change. Ballot initiatives could either accelerate solutions or undermine years of advocacy and planning. The housing crisis won’t fix itself. But with smart policy, inclusive planning, and a commitment to growth, we can keep residents in Massachusetts.