Boston Mayor Michelle Wu has announced a strategy to help the city support its growing population and ensure housing affordability for all income levels. 

The set of proposals announced by the mayor would make substantial changes to the city’s Inclusionary Development Policy (IDP) and the commercial Linkage Policy. The goal of the updated policies is to increase the city’s affordable housing supply while continuing to be an attractive market for real estate developers. 

According to a press release from the mayor’s office, Wu’s strategy for “inclusive growth” will “lower barriers to development and create a more predictable development timeline,” as well as “enable development that allows the city to grow equitably and inclusively.”

“We are using every tool that the city has to urgently address Boston’s housing crisis,” said Wu. “By directing public and private resources from development toward our shared vision of a Boston for everyone, we are taking necessary steps to ensure Boston remains a place that current residents, families and future generations can call home. I’m grateful to this team and our partners for their work to continue prioritizing affordability for residents in our city’s continued growth.”

Boston’s Inclusionary Development Policy hasn’t been updated since December 2015 and currently requires developers of market-rate residential developments to support creating affordable housing in exchange for zoning relief. Under the current IDP, developments with 10 or more units needing zoning relief have to support creating income-restricted housing either onsite or offsite or by paying into an IDP fund managed by the Mayor’s Office of Housing. A home rule petition was approved by the state legislature in January 2021 allowing the city to codify inclusionary development into the zoning code. 

Wu’s proposed changes to the policy will help direct a larger share of resources toward the city’s vision and include lowering the threshold from 10 units to seven. It would increase the percentage of income-restricted units from 13% to 20% and deepen affordability requirements for retinal projects. Wu is also proposing that 17% of the project will be income restricted at an average of 60% of the Area Median Income, and offer an additional 3% of the project at market rents, reserving them for those with housing vouchers. 

Wu’s proposal also includes increasing on-site IDP requirements for homeownership projects from 13% to 20% in “IDP Zone A & B (the top third and middle third of citywide neighborhood median values), while holding affordable requirements at an average of 90% of Area Median Income.”

The Boston Planning & Development Agency, Zoning Commission and City Council will all be part of the approval process to determine an effective date for when the new rules would take effect. Projects currently under review will not be affected. 

Wu has also introduced changes to the city’s Linkage Policy which include lowering the threshold and exemption from its current 100,000 square feet to 50,000 square feet. She is also proposing increasing fees to $30.78 per square foot for lab space and $23.09 for other commercial uses, up from $15.39, according to the release. Those fees will be phased in over two years. Sixteen percent of these fees will support both job training and job preparedness programs with 84% going toward creating and preserving affordable housing within the city.

“Mayor Wu’s proposed increase to the linkage fee is an important step in the effort to address Boston families’ housing needs,” said Symone Crawford, executive director of the Massachusetts Affordable Housing Alliance. “Linkage has been and will continue to be a vital resource for building new affordable homes in Boston. MAHA and our allies have been advocating for an increase in linkage for years and this proposal shows that Mayor Wu is listening.”

Public hearings and public comment periods will be scheduled on each policy with the BPDA and the Mayor’s Office of Housing before the recommended language is submitted for a vote. 

The BPDA has websites for the Inclusionary Development Policy and the Linkage Policy that include background information and public meeting information. The first public meeting is on Jan. 11 for the Linkage Policy and Jan. 21 for IDP.