Housing
The Mayor's Office of Housing is responsible for developing affordable housing, housing the homeless, and managing the City’s real estate. We also work to ensure that renters and homeowners can find, maintain, and stay in their homes.
Contact
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12 Channel Street
9th FloorBoston, MA 02210 -
HoursMonday to Friday: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Get Started
Get StartedBoston Housing Strategy 2025
Mayor Wu’s Housing Strategy is a blueprint that will shape Boston’s housing story. It reflects the work being done by the Wu Administration, including the Mayor’s Office of Housing, the Boston Housing Authority, and the Boston Planning and Development Agency to develop systematic approaches to address our housing challenges so that all residents have access to safe, healthy, and affordable housing.
The Boston Housing Strategy 2025 lays out big new housing policies and programs being pursued in the short term and those already being implemented to make Boston a family-friendly city that works for kids, seniors, workers, and everyone who wants to make it home. It provides tools to stabilize the housing market through new mixed-income and affordable housing development, reduce racial disparities through homeownership and development opportunities for BIPOC-led organizations, and move forward Boston’s Green New Deal through transit-oriented development and green retrofits of existing housing. Explore the Strategy to learn more about key housing priorities, how we’ll advance them, and the housing production and other numeric goals we’ll use to assess progress.
Inclusionary Zoning
Boston’s Inclusionary Zoning (IZ), first established in 2000 as the Inclusionary Development Policy and then updated and incorporated into the Zoning Code effective 2024, requires market-rate housing developments with seven or more units to support the creation of income-restricted housing, ranging from 15 to 17 percent of units, on site or else at a location near their building, plus three percent (3%) of units for voucher holders in large rental projects only. In some cases, developers may contribute to the Inclusionary Development Policy Fund in lieu of building income-restricted units. These funds are used by the City of Boston Mayors’ Office of Housing (MOH) to fund the creation of affordable/income-restricted housing across Boston.
IZ, which was announced in 2023, goes into effect in October 2024.
To learn more about the changes to the City of Boston policy, read the policy itself, or to find Inclusionary Zoning FAQs for developers, please click the button below.
BOSTON ACQUISITION FUND
Protecting Tenants, Preserving Long Term Affordability, Preventing Displacement
The Boston Acquisition Fund (BAF) is a public-private revolving loan fund established by Mayor Michelle Wu and a number of Boston institutions and philanthropies to tackle one of the city’s most pressing challenges: preserving housing affordability.
Administered by the Massachusetts Housing Investment Corporation, the BAF provides low-interest loans to mission-driven developers to purchase occupied multi-family housing in the city to protect current residents from displacement and stabilize communities affected by rising rents and speculative investment pressures. This fund is designed to protect and preserve long term affordability for tenants, fight displacement, and ensure Boston remains a home for everyone. As loans are repaid, funds are reinvested to support new housing acquisitions, creating a sustainable model for preserving affordability.
American Rescue Plan (ARPA) Funding
The City of Boston has allocated $234 million in American Rescue Plan (ARPA) funding to housing.
The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 delivered $350 billion to state and local governments across the country to support their response to and recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. The City of Boston was allocated $560 million of this funding, and, $234 million has been allocated for housing.
Learn More about the City of Boston's ARPA funding for Housing
Additional Information and Resources
Housing Programs Income and Rent Limits
Income limits are based on household size and a percentage of the annual average income for the Boston area. These limits are set annually and subject to change. Housing programs qualify applicants based on their household income.
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Contact
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12 Channel Street
9th FloorBoston, MA 02210 -
HoursMonday to Friday: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
