Worcester May Tackle Housing Affordability With Zoning Law Change

WORCESTER, MA — Last Wednesday, local officials — including Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito — held a groundbreaking ceremony at the Alta on the Row apartment development along Mulberry Street.

When complete, Alta on the Row, which will replace the shuttered Mount Carmel Church, will contain 371 market-rate apartments. No units will be set aside as affordable for people who earn less than the area median income. In other words, low income Worcester residents may have trouble affording apartments when Alta on the Row opens.

Future large developments in Worcester like Alta, however, may go a different route. Worcester is now considering a new "inclusionary zoning" ordinance that would require developers to set aside a portion of apartments in new developments as affordable.

The Worcester Together Affordable Housing Coalition, a confederacy of Worcester housing and social groups, have been pushing for an inclusionary zoning ordinance at City Hall.

"Worcester’s economic growth, escalating real estate prices and ongoing impact of the COVID pandemic is fueling a housing affordability crisis that is causing great economic and emotional hardship for many city residents," coalition member the Rev. Clyde Talley said in a news release.

The proposed ordinance, sent to city council this week by City Manager Ed Augustus Jr., would require any development with 12 or more units to set aside either 15 percent of "habitable square footage" as affordable for any household earning less than 80 percent of the area median income; or 10 percent of the habitable square footage for any household earning less than 60 percent of the area median income. The coalition wants Worcester's inclusionary zoning ordinance to remain at 60 percent AMI.

Worcester's proposed ordinance would also include an option for developers to pay their way out of those affordability minimums. The payment — highly variable based on the size and type of development — would go to Worcester's new affordable housing trust fund, a pot of money that can be used to fund private development of affordable housing, rehab existing housing stock and offer low-income homebuyers assistance.

"[Inclusionary zoning] can also be an effective tool to increase the affordable housing stock through private development less dependent on public subsidies, which are competitive and take time to secure," Chief Development Officer Peter Dunn said in a memo to city council.

Many cities across the U.S. and Massachusetts already have inclusionary zoning in place. Framingham, for example, requires new developments have 10 percent of units at 80 percent of AMI. Cambridge has had an inclusionary zoning ordinance in place since 1998, and recently updated it to require 20 percent of all floor area in a given development be affordable.

The median rent in Worcester was over $1,500 per month in May, a 17 percent increase over the past year, according to the apartment website Zumper. Meanwhile, waitlists for almost all types of subsidized affordable housing in Worcester were closed as of May 1, an indicator of extremely low inventory.

The city council's economic development subcommittee, chaired by District 1 Councilor Sean Rose, will likely begin talks about the ordinance in June.