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In Progress: This will be a FAQ page with some answers to common questions surrounding affordable housing (and housing construction in general), zoning, and rent control/stabilization. The hope is to dispel some myths and help people access reliable (and well sourced & cited) information on these topics.

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Affordable Housing

What is “Affordable” housing?

Housing is “affordable” when a household is spending 30% or less of their income on housing costs (including rent/mortgage and utilities). In housing policy discussions, its important to specify that “Capital A” Affordable housing means housing that is subsidized to be affordable to income-eligible households. Typically, these are units reserved for lower-income households making a percentage of Area Median Income (AMI), but can also mean housing that is made affordable through housing vouchers (Section 8 or MRVP).

Fixed Below-Market Rate Units vs. Rental Based on Income Units

In Massachusetts, Affordable housing is primarily subsidized in two ways:

Incentivizing the construction of “capital A” Affordable housing units (using tax credits) that are rented at a fixed below-market rate (FMBR) affordable (30% of household income or less) to households making less than the Area Median Income (AMI).
Providing unit-specific or portable rental vouchers through programs like Section 8 or the Massachusetts Rental Voucher Program (MRVP) which allow households to pay a variable rent set to 30% of their income, with the rest directly covered by the subsidy.

What is “naturally affordable” housing?

Naturally affordable housing often refers to older housing units that are affordable (≤30% household income spent on housing) without government subsidies. Historically, most of these “naturally affordable" units have become affordable through the process of downward filtering, in which housing units move between different income levels. Numerous studies have found that in a healthy housing market with adequate housing construction, housing units “naturally” become more affordable over time as they age.