A Massachusetts Superior Court judge has affirmed the MBTA Communities Act, denying exemption to several Massachusetts towns that claimed the law’s requirement to adopt multifamily zoning districts would create additional costs.
When signed by former Gov. Charlie Baker in 2021, the MBTA Communities Act mandated that municipalities served by the MBTA must have at least one “reasonably sized district where multifamily housing can be built.”
The town of Milton failed to comply with the law after residents voted down a zoning change that would have allowed for 2,500 new units of multifamily housing. After Attorney General Andrea Campbell filed a lawsuit against the town in 2023, the Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled the law constitutional in early 2025.
Despite this defeat, several more towns filed lawsuits, citing a determination from the State Auditor’s Division of Local Mandates, and claimed that the MBTA Communities Act constituted an unfunded mandate. Those municipalities include Duxbury, Hamilton, Hanson, Holden, Marshfield, Middleton, Wenham, Weston and Wrentham.
A Massachusetts Superior Court judge has now rejected the suits, finding functions like updating zoning codes and holding town meetings to be regular aspects of municipal government that do not incur additional costs.
The court also denied that multifamily zoning districts cause increased infrastructure and service costs in communities.
Notwithstanding the lawsuits, a majority of qualifying MBTA communities have already taken steps to comply with the law and permit new housing. As of May 2025, 75% of the 177 qualifying municipalities approved multifamily zoning to gain compliance with the MBTA Communities Law, according to the Healey-Driscoll Administration.
“Today’s ruling is a great victory for all Massachusetts residents, but particularly the communities of color and low-income individuals hardest hit by the affordable housing crisis,” Jacob Love, senior attorney at Lawyers for Civil Rights, said in a press release. “Increasing multifamily housing stock is critical to advancing fair housing in the Commonwealth and this decision preserves one of the most important tools we have in the fight for housing equity.”