Housing

The preservation and creation of affordable housing is an urgent issue for Boston and Cambridge. The high cost of housing deters businesses from adding jobs in Massachusetts. Because expanding the supply of affordable housing is so tied to job growth, Marty opposes the repeal of Chapter 40B.

Marty was the lead sponsor of a new law reducing property taxes for co-op owners, giving them the same residential exemption tax benefit enjoyed by owners of condominiums.

Massachusetts is one of the only states in the country that has state-funded public housing. Because the condition of many public housing developments is deplorable, Marty supported a Housing Bond Bill to give local housing authorities the money they need to make improvements to public housing apartments.

She also supported a law to preserve affordable housing and protect tenants living in publicly-assisted housing by allowing the state and municipalities to purchase affordable housing units before they hit the open market and protecting tenants in those apartments by requiring that they be given 24 months notice of affordability termination.

At the beginning of the foreclosure crisis, Marty supported new laws to help stem the number of mortgage foreclosures by encouraging banks to help borrowers, providing a new 3-month window to cure defaults, and mandating tough new licensing standards for mortgage loan originators. Since the global financial crisis has not ended, she co-sponsored legislation, now law, that establishes protections for tenants living in properties that have been taken over by a lender after foreclosure while extending the “right-to-cure” period in some circumstances, allowing lenders and homeowners to work out a new payment plan to avoid foreclosure.

Marty is a strong supporter of the Commission to End Homelessness that is implementing a multi-year housing and support services strategy to end homelessness.