Buyers of vacation and retirement homes have been eroding year-round housing supply in seasonal communities. Year-residents are increasingly unable to afford housing in their communities. Businesses in seasonal communities are increasingly unable to recruit workers due to high housing costs. The Affordable Homes Act, (“the Act”) assists people struggling to find housing in seasonal communities in several ways.
- Geographic equity in spending
- Seasonal communities designation
- Seasonal communities advisory council
Geographic equity in spending
All the general affordable housing preservation and production spending programs authorized by the Act require the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities (“HLC”) to consider geographic equity in awarding funds. Some specialized authorizations do not include this language — home modifications for blindness and other disabilities, public housing renovation, middle-income housing, state surplus property, MBTA communities, smart growth housing.
Seasonal communities designation
The Act allows the secretary of HLC designate a community as a seasonal community. This designation gives a community new capabilities to assist year round residents and also requires certain zoning changes to support housing production.
The act requires the following communities to designated seasonal.
- all municipalities on Martha’s Vineyard (Dukes County) and Nantucket
- all municipalities on the Cape (Barnstable County) with over 35% seasonal housing units
- all municipalities in the Berkshires (Berkshire County) with over 40% seasonal housing units
The Act allows additional designation of seasonal communities based on the following factors:
- (i) a high rate of short-term rentals in relation to the overall housing inventory;
- (ii) a significant population increase in seasonal visitors;
- (iii) an excessive disparity between the area median income and the income required to purchase the municipality’s median home price;
- (iv) the percentage of housing stock that is used for seasonal, occasional or recreational use or is otherwise not used as a primary residence by the property’s owner; and
- (v) high variations in the average monthly variation of employment in the sector over the full year, in relation to the municipality’s minimum employment threshold.
A municipality must accept or deny a seasonal designation by vote of its legislative body (town meeting or town/city council).
A designation as seasonal gives a municipality explicit authority to:
- increase the residential property tax exemption for primary residences to 50% of the average assessed value of residential property instead of the general statutory level of 35%.
- acquire year-round housing occupancy restrictions for rental or other housing;
- acquire and develop housing units with preference for housing seasonal public employees;
- acquire and develop affordable and “attainable” housing for the benefit of year-round residents (which may be targeted to artists) — the term “attainable” is a construct to be defined by HLC to reflect conditions in seasonal communities.
The designation as seasonal also imposes two obligations on the community:
- to adopt zoning provisions allowing the use of undersized lots in single-family residential zones for development of “attainable” year-round housing — this does not require an exemption from floor area by-laws or wastewater/septic laws.
- to adopt by-laws permitting the construction of “tiny” houses, houses under 400 square feet in floor area (excluding lofts); tiny houses could include movable tiny houses.
Seasonal municipalities may apply for waiver of these provisions.
Seasonal communities advisory council
The Act requires HLC to convene a seasonal communities advisory council “to offer expertise in issues pertaining to municipal government, the hospitality industry, the tourism industry, housing law and housing development and finance in seasonal communities.” New section 25(c) of Chapter 23B details the membership of the council.
The responsibilities of the advisory council are to:
- Advise HLC on how to serve the distinct needs of seasonal communities
- Consult with HLC on the definition of “attainable” housing
- Consult with HLC on designation of additional seasonal communities
- Consult with HLC on regulations pertaining to local spending on housing for year-round residents