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AG Campbell sues Milton after town rejects housing law
Attorney General Andrea Campbell is following through on her promise to force Milton into compliance with a law meant to boost multifamily housing and combat the housing crisis.
Attorney General Andrea Campbell filed a lawsuit against the town of Milton Tuesday for its failure to comply with a state law meant to boost multifamily housing near the MBTA.
Earlier this month, Milton residents voted to reject changes to the town’s zoning bylaws that would have brought the community into compliance with the MBTA Communities Act. The referendum drove a wedge between vocal residents on both sides of the issue. Ultimately, 54% of the ballots cast were “no” votes opposing the changes.
Campbell threatened legal action against the town before the vote, and expressed her disappointment with the outcome after the results were published. Her office announced the lawsuit in a press release Tuesday.
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“The housing affordability crisis affects all of us: families who face impossible choices between food on the table or a roof over their heads, young people who want to live here but are driven away by the cost, and a growing workforce we cannot house,” Campbell said in a statement. “The MBTA Communities Law was enacted to address our region-wide need for housing, and compliance with it is mandatory.”
The law was signed by former Gov. Charlie Baker in 2021. It requires “MBTA communities” to allow multifamily housing such as apartments and condos to be built near T stops without special permits. There are 177 communities in eastern Massachusetts subject to the law, ranging all the way from Salisbury to Worcester to Fall River. Twelve communities had a Dec. 31, 2023, deadline to enact a compliant zoning district. Milton officials developed a plan for compliance there, but voters overturned it this month, Campbell’s office said.
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State officials say that more multifamily housing is desperately needed to address the crisis and slow rising housing prices. The lack of affordable housing throughout Massachusetts disproportionately affects working families, young people, and communities of color, they said.
During an appearance on GBH’s “Boston Public Radio” Tuesday, Campbell stressed the bipartisan nature of the law and its importance in combating the housing crisis. Her office, along with Gov. Maura Healey’s office, has been working continuously with communities to help them achieve compliance, she said.
“We’re simply keeping our word of suing the town,” Campbell said.
Healey backed Campbell.
“We need every community to come together and do their part to make housing more affordable. I’m grateful to Attorney General Campbell and her team for taking this important step today to enforce compliance with the MBTA Communities Law. This is not just about one community – but about the future of our workforce, our economy, and our entire state,” Healey said in a statement.
Campbell issued an advisory last March specifying that communities “cannot avoid their obligations under the Law by foregoing this funding.”
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Healey, Campbell, and other state officials have long stressed that compliance is mandatory and that failure to do so would result in communities missing out on state grants. Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities Secretary Ed Augustus reiterated that message last week in a strongly worded letter to Milton officials. The town is now ineligible to receive MassWorks and HousingWorks grants, which support infrastructure. It is now also at a “competitive disadvantage” for 13 grant programs offered by the EOHLC.
Town Administrator Nicholas Milano acknowledged in a letter to the town’s Select Board last month that Milton stood to lose as much as $1.7 million in state funding.
The recent lawsuit was filed by Campbell in the Supreme Judicial Court for Suffolk County. It asks the court to order Milton to comply with the law. In it, Campbell’s office laid out the state’s decades-long efforts to incentivize housing production by establishing voluntary programs that provide extra funding for municipalities that participate. But not enough communities opted into those programs, and the housing crisis worsened to the point where a mandatory program was necessary.
This lawsuit is meant to not only force Milton into compliance, but to send a message to other municipalities that may be debating whether or not to follow Milton’s lead, Campbell said during her GBH interview. She has not received any indication so far that any cities or towns are on the verge of following Milton’s lead.
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She does hope to sway public opinion in the town.
“You have a small subset of residents who are driving this opposition,” Campbell said on GBH. “We hope that not only are we continuing to stay in touch with the ‘yes’ folks, but we get folks on the ‘no’ side to shift their perspective and also those who didn’t even participate in the election to pay attention and understand how important this issue is.”
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