Affordable Housing Overlay District Forum - Oct 22nd, 2026

Forum held in the Arlington High School Cafeteria. Information was available from https://www.arlingtonma.gov/Home/Components/Calendar/Event/40404/.

Presentation

Members of the Affordable Housing Overlay District (AHOD) Committee provide a presentation on their work and the current shape of their recommendations.

(Laura Wiener, AHOD) Who needs affordable housing and what is it? Affordable housing is defined by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). People who pay more than 30% of their income on housing are cost-burdened. In Arlington, 37% of renters and 21% of homeowners are cost-burdened. The Affordable Housing Overlay is focusing on housing for people making 60% of the area median income (AMI) or less. Area median incomes are determined by the HUD and vary by household size. People with these incomes include service workers, teachers, people with disabilities, veterans, and many town employees.

(Sarah Suarez, Assistant Planning Director) Why do we need more affordable housing? First, the state says we do. Arlington is roughly 600 homes short of Chapter 40B's requirement for 10% affordable housing. The Arlington Housing Authority has 1,154 units of affordable housing and their wait-list is thousands of people long. The Housing Corporation of Arlington has 208 units, and they also have an extensive wait-list.

Over the last 40 years, inclusionary zoning has given us 115 affordable homes and chapter 40B has given us 134. That works out to about 6 per year.

If we wanted to meet the requirement for 10% affordable homes using just inclusionary zoning, we'd need roughly 4000 new homes that were subject to inclusionary zoning.

Why do we need an overlay? Arlington's zoning bylaw is complicated, and we have many more regulations than other communities. Multi-family homes are not allowed by right in any base district. Our bylaw makes it hard to build housing in general. The overlay would help to level the playing field for affordable housing developers. It's difficult for them to take risks because of the costs involved, and because many of them are mission-based non-profits.

(Xavid Pretzer, AHOD) What is the overlay district? An overlay provides additional options, without restricting what can be done with those properties today. It's up to the property owner to decide whether to apply the overlay rules. The town does not develop properties or finance development. We're just providing options for property owners.

The committee is proposing two districts: the corridor district and the neighborhood district. The neighborhood district would allow four stories while the corridor district would allow six. There would be a 15' front setback requirement, along with required side and rear yard setbacks. The corridor district would allow a 0' setback for mixed use; affordable housing developments with some kind of business use on the first floor. Projects in the affordable housing overlay would be subject to site plan review by the Arlington Redevelopment Board. The tree bylaw and historic preservation bylaws would continue to apply.

(Beth Elliot, AHOD) Why allow more density? Affordable rents don't generate enough revenue to cover the cost of development. The smaller the unit cap, the bigger the funding gap per unit.

Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) are the biggest source of funding for affordable housing. The federal government gives these grants to states via a competitive process. Projects typically need at least 30 units to get LIHTC funding.

LIHTC can't be used to fund the commercial part of a mixed-use building. The commercial components have to be financed separately, making them more challenging to build.

Massachusetts has high environmental standards for their LIHTC awards, and they typically require passive house designs. It often takes numerous applications to get all the funding together.

(Max Palmer, AHOD) What has been done already? This work has been going on for several years. The AHOD committee was formed by town meeting in 2025, and town meeting extended the committee in 2026.

The overlay would apply to specific parcels, rather than to the town as a whole. Some of the criteria used in parcel selection included:

• The parcels would need to be large enough for a LIHTC project
• The committee wanted to limit residential demolition
• The parcels should be near transit, schools, and stores
• None of the parcels are in Arlington's main business centers.

The overlay would require 100% of units to be income-restricted affordable housing.

(Laura Wiener) Ms. Wiener says there are two parts to the process. First are the rules around height and setbacks, along with the review process. The second part involves where the district is located. The recommended list of parcels includes underutilized commercial sites, churches, houses of worship, all of the properties owned by the Arlington Housing Authority and Housing Corporation of Arlington, parcels with proximity to transit, and parcels that were not on historic registers.

(Max Palmer) Why are we doing this? Housing prices have outpaced income growth. Affordable housing provides housing stability, and zoning is one way our town can help. There's no requirement to build, but we are adding to the menu of options available to property owners.

(Carol Kowalski, AHOD) Ms. Kowalski says there are additional considerations. New multi-family housing contributes more tax revenue than any other category, and that includes both market-rate and affordable multi-family. New growth can be added to the tax levy as soon as construction starts. Arlington has the same tax rate for both commercial and residential properties, so conversions to residential would not be taking anything away.

The committee has a survey which asks for resident opinions about the overlay. It's available from the town website.

Questions, Answers, and Comments

(?) Why exclude the retail centers? It seems like some of our retail and commercial spaces are under-utilized.

(Sarah Suarez) Ms. Suarez says the redevelopment board wasn't in favor of including the business districts, and the community has been interested in growing them.

(?) It seems like multi-family housing would do well in the business centers.

(Carol Kowalski) Ms. Kowalski notes that the parcel lists includes a number of properties with large parking lots, where it would be possible to build above the parking.

(David Bean) Mr. Bean asks if LIHTC can only be used to fund 100% affordable housing.

(Beth Elliot) Ms. Elliot says LIHTC is subject to federal requirements. The program requires 40% of rental units to be affordable to households making 60% of the area median income (AMI); or, 20% of units affordable to households making 50% of the AMI. We'd require 100% affordable at 60% AMI, which is more than the federal programs require.

(?) An attendee doesn't like 5' side yards and he says they'll lead to a loss of green space. He thinks this will be a disaster. He'd like to see the bylaw have a sunset provision. He'd rather have the town take properties by eminent domain and build the housing ourselves.

(?) Someone asks about housing that's more deeply affordable than 60% AMI.

(Beth Elliot) Ms. Elliot says the thresholds are partly about financial feasibility, and the income restrictions can be coupled with rental vouchers.

(Erica Schwarz, Housing Corporation of Arlington) Ms. Schwarz notes that federal programs do have a requirement for a certain number of deeply affordable units, at 30--50% AMI.

(Melita Marx) Ms. Marx asks how this is helping Arlington. She feels like there are a lot of negatives. These buildings will be very large, they'll have no parking, they'll take up commercial space, and businesses will be ousted. Churches will be in jeopardy. Making development by right is a way to skirt permission. We already have the MBTA Communities act, and we should see how that plays out first. 100% affordable would be problematic.

(Beth Elliot) Ms. Elliot thinks there will be a deep benefit to the town, as there's currently a lot of displacement happening. Having more families will be beneficial to local businesses, and new housing will contribute to the tax base. Even if the overlay were successful, development would still be incremental because there's only so much funding available, and these projects have to work out a lot of things. Ms. Elliot says the overlay can benefit churches that have extra land. It can let them do mission-based work, while providing funding to the church.

(Carol Kowalski) Ms. Kowalski urges people to look at the committee's parcel list. The multi-family homes we do allow are at the top end of the market, and our bylaw has nothing to encourage affordable housing.

(?) The attendee is aware of other zoning changes going on, like the business district in Arlington heights. She asks how these different efforts interact and relate.

(Sarah Suarez) Ms. Suarez says the Planning Department is involved with both. The heights rezoning effort is focused on economic development, so it's a very different proposal and geared towards commercial development.

(Larry Slotnick) Mr. Slotnick asks if the affordable units have to abide by the state's strict size requirements.

(The answer was "yes")

Mr. Slotnick says that people are opposed to 5--6 story buildings right next to the sidewalk. He'd like to see smaller units in smaller buildings.

(Sarah Suarez) Ms. Suarez says that Arlington's bylaw requires affordable units to be suitable for inclusion on the state's subsidized housing inventory. The committee had not considered allowing affordable units that didn't meet state requirements.

(Larry Slotnick) Mr. Slotnick says that Arlington doesn't need affordable housing near business districts. We need non-affordable housing near the business districts.

(Xavid Pretzer) Mx. Pretzer notes that apartments built under the affordable housing overlay will have a 15' front setback requirement.

(Liz Reisberg) Ms. Reisberg would like to see more affordable housing, but she's concerned about appearance and how the buildings will look. She's like more affordable housing and she's not concerned about five- or six-story buildings. She's concerned about how they look.

(Sarah Suarez) Ms. Suarez says the planning department is working on a project to revise Arlington's commercial and multi-family design guidelines. She says the Housing Corporation of Arlington's new buildings are quite attractive.

(?) An attendee says that committee members need to say why the overlay will be good for current residents.

(?) An attendee thinks that any affordable housing in the overlay should be reserved for Arlington residents.

(Beth Elliot) Ms. Elliot says there are limitations on a town's ability to require local preference, as a fair housing matter. Any local preference requirements would have to be approved by the state. She'll discuss this with Town Counsel, though.

(Susan Stamps) Ms. Stamps would like to hear a bit less about what might be good for Arlington, and a bit more about about what might be good for the planet, the state, and the world. She hopes residents can embrace this idea with open arms.

(?) An attendee asks how levels of affordability will be broken down.

(Beth Elliot) Ms. Elliot says the overlay would require all units to be affordable to families making 60% of the area median income. There are ways to get deeper affordability, but it depends on the subsidy being used. The requirement for 100% at 60% AMI was to provide flexibility.

(Andrew Wofford, Housing Corporation of Arlington) Mr. Wofford gives a breakdown for the Emma's Court project that was just approved. 20% of the units will be affordable to households making 30% of the AMI, 20% will be reserved for households making 50% of the AMI, and the rest will be available to households making 60% of the AMI.

(?) An attendee asks about affordable condos.

(Beth Elliot) Ms. Elliot says that ownership or rental units would be allowed under the affordable housing overlay. But there is more funding available for rental units.

(Sarah Suarez) Ms. Suarez says the Affordable Housing Trust Fund is interested in seeing more opportunities for affordable owner-occupied properties.

(Eugene Benson) Mr. Benson asks why the committee is thinking of a 100% affordability requirement, rather than mixed income.

(Beth Elliot) Ms. Elliot believes that Town Meeting asked for 100%.

(Junko Naguno) Ms. Naguno asks about the dimensional requirements.

(Xavid Pretzer) Mx. Pretzer shows a slide with the dimensional regulations. It would allow 4 stories in the neighborhood district, and 6 stories in the corridor district. Both would have 15' front-yard setback requirements.

(I missed the side and rear-yard setback requirements).

(Mellita Marx) Ms. Marx asks if there will be more tax revenue from affordable housing developments. What about the cost of services?

(Xavid Pretzer) Mx. Pretzer says there will be more tax revenue. The committee is looking into costs of services.

(Susan Stamps) Ms. Stamps asks if LIHTC funds could be used for a mixed-use building.

(Erica Schwarz, Housing Corporation of Arlington) Ms. Schwarz notes that affordable housing has become less affordable over time. It's not serving the same groups as it served (say) 25 years ago. There are a lot of well-paying jobs in the Boston area, and that raises the area median income.

(?) An attendee says that Town Meeting, the Select Board, and the Redevelopment Board have been doing this for years. Developers tear down buildings, Arlington is gentrifying, and we've done this to ourselves.

(Joanne Cullinane) Ms. Cullinane says that six stories is really big, especially if it's right next to a sidewalk. That's very jarring and very urban. She asks if these developments could pencil out at lower heights. She thinks that the mixed-use bonus should require more than just a token space. She's concerned that the Housing Authority's properties are included in the overlay.

(Beth Elliot) Ms. Elliot notes that, under state law, the housing authority's properties can't be sold unless the buyer maintains the same number of affordable units, at the same levels of affordability. A new buyer could add, but they can't subtract.

The Housing Authority's board took a vote, and they were in favor of having all of their properties included in the overlay district.

(Neal Mongold) Mr. Mongold asks if proximity to open space was a factor in site selection.

(Beth Elliot) Ms. Elliot says that's something the committee could look at. She understands the desire to have affordable housing that delivers nice amenities, but that does make it more expensive.