Raul Fernandez Calls For Passage Of Real Estate Transfer Fee Home Rule

BROOKLINE, MA — On Friday, Brookline Select Board Vice-Chair and current State Representative candidate Raul Fernandez submitted a testimony for a hearing before the Joint Committee on Revenue regarding Brookline’s real estate transfer fee home rule petition.

Fernandez expressed his support for the home rule petition’s passage and pointed out that, had the legislature acted on the home rule petition in 2019 when it was originally passed by Town Meeting, it would have already generated $37 million to create and preserve permanently affordable housing.

“Like many communities, Brookline is in desperate need of more abundant, permanently affordable housing,” Fernandez said. "We are in a unique position to have untapped wealth in our community to address our affordable housing needs, but we simply cannot access it without a tool like the Real Estate Transfer Fee.”

"We need this fee to do our part in addressing the Commonwealth’s affordable housing crisis and we need your support in voting favorably on H.4567 so we can do just that,” he continued. "The need is dire and the hour is late. Please act accordingly.”

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