PBLN Members Support Market-Driven Model to Build Affordable Housing

PBLN has adopted a position in support of the Massachusetts Affordable Housing law known as "Chapter 40B" which is currently under attack. A well funded grassroots campaign has succeeded in placing a referendum to repeal 40B on the November ballot. What is at stake is its total repeal and the collapse of the entire market driven model for building affordable housing in Massachusetts. This is far more than an issue for a single state. In many ways the NIMBY phenomenon behind the attack poses a risk to affordable housing in any community. 


CEOs and other business leaders who support the position statement below are welcome to sign on or to send others our way if they want in. Email your name to PBLN Executive Director Andy Tarsy at andy@pbln.org with the exact spelling and title/affiliation that should appear with your name.  Inclusion of your individual names and affiliations strengthens the impact of our statement. PBLN President Tom Dretler (President/CEO of Eduventures, Inc.) will offer the statement below and related comments in testimony at a Statehouse hearing on Monday, May 3rd. The rich evidence in support of our decision is cogently laid out on the website of the Coalition to Protect Affordable Housing which we have joined and we urge you to support it also. You can find it at http://www.protectaffordablehousing.org.

Here is the PBLN position statement:

PBLN supports market driven models that lead to the development of affordable housing. We believe such models, including the Massachusetts Chapter 40B Affordable Housing law advance the public interest, are vital to our economy and reflect our values as a society. PBLN opposes the current effort to repeal the Massachusetts Affordable Housing law by ballot initiative petition.

Special thanks to Tom O'Brien (Managing Director, HYM Investments and Chair of the PBLN Housing/Economic Development Working Group) and Sean Sacks (Assistant Vice President of the New Boston Fund Boston and Coordinator of PBLN's Housing/Economic Development Working Group) for your leadership on this issue.

More on this issue Monday from the hearing at the Statehouse...

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