Worcester Renaissance, But Inclusionary: Affordability Law Passed By Councilors

WORCESTER, MA — The Worcester City Council approved a landmark inclusionary zoning ordinance Tuesday, ending nearly a year of debate about how hard the city would push developers to build affordable units in an increasingly expensive city.

Tuesday's vote to approve the inclusionary zoning (IZ) ordinance was unanimous, but not without dispute. The ordinance approved by councilors is more conservative than what housing advocates had wanted, but also includes two key changes that edged closer to some of their demands.

The IZ ordinance will require new developers to include some affordable units in any new residential buildings with 12 or more units. The law will only apply to new developments approved after Tuesday's vote — the law will likely not apply to the thousands of new units that have already been proposed in recent months and years.

Former city manager Ed Augustus Jr. and Chief Development Officer Peter Dunn first presented the IZ ordinance to councilors in May 2022. That proposal was countered by the Worcester Together Affordable Housing Coalition, which sought higher affordability targets than what Dunn and Augustus recommended.

The coalition's proposal was supported in two separate votes by the Planning Board and the council's Economic Development Subcommittee. But the city administration's proposal was long seen as the likely version to pass because it was seen as a compromise with developers, who until now were free to charge market rate rents while receiving public assistance in the form of state and local tax breaks.

The city administration and the business community also continuously reminded councilors that a stricter IZ law might slow down development.

As the chair of the Economic Development Subcommittee, District 1 Councilor Sean Rose emerged as a key arbiter in the IZ debate, ultimately coming down on the side of the city's more "conservative" proposal. Rose said he feared a development slowdown would materialize if the coalition's proposal became law. He also said the city could amend the policy later to increase affordability targets.

"I believe it's impossible to go backwards if we overshoot restrictions at the outset," Rose said during a debate Tuesday.

Rose did make two amendments to the administration's ordinance: requiring affordable accessible units for the disabled to be enshrined in the ordinance; and making incentives available only to developers who agree to include apartments affordable for people earning 60% of the area median income. Those incentives include items like avoiding some zoning and parking restrictions.

The coalition made one last show of force for its proposal on Tuesday, packing city hall with demonstrators who offered example after example of being priced out of Worcester. They repeated the question, "Who are we building this city for?"

During public comment at the council meeting, the coalition members spoke for more than an hour, saying the council needed to come down on their side, not developers.

Guillermo Creamer, a member of the Worcester Human Rights Commission, spoke in his role as the organizer of Worcester Now | Next — the city's ongoing master planning effort. Across the city, Creamer said residents are afraid of losing their homes due to rising rents.

"Today, I come before the council to ask you to please do more," he said.

Lindita Taka, a city employee in the elder affairs department, told councilors she gets constant calls from seniors who are facing homelessness over rising rents. A North High School student spoke to tell councilors about how they were temporarily living in a hotel in Westborough due to a lack of affordable housing in Worcester.

Resident Eric Stratton said he felt like the coalition was "fighting for scraps" with the city due to its insistence on not burdening developers.

"Are you going to put people, children and families first and support inclusion, or do you instead supporting exclusion?" he asked.

Domenica Perrone, a likely city council candidate in the upcoming 2023 election, told councilors that Tuesday's vote would be heard at the ballot box in November.

"The community is frustrated, we're fed up, and we're here to hold you accountable," she said.

When it came time to vote, the council took the dueling proposals separately. Rose's amended version of the administration's original proposal came first, and was voted down 7 to 4 with Councilors Etel Haxhiaj, Khrystian King, Thu Nguyen and Sarai Rivera on the "no" side.

"How many residents and taxpayers have fled our city because they don't see a liveable future here? How many feel left out of the Worcester renaissance?" District 5 Councilor Etel Haxhiaj said in remarks during debate.

That was followed by the coalition proposal, which councilors Rose, Kate Toomey, Moe Bergman, George Russell, Candy Mero Carlson, Donna Colorio and Mayor Joseph Petty voted against.

But those two votes were largely symbolic, aimed at getting votes on the record for the two proposals. The council eventually voted to reconsider Rose's amended version, and that passed unanimously.

Following Tuesday's vote, the council will next have to vote to advertise the new IZ ordinance at the next council meeting on April 25 before it can become law.

Here are key parts of what passed on Tuesday:

• Applies to: new developments with 12 or more units
• Requires: Either 10% of units at 60% area median income (AMI) or 15% at 80% AMI, or some combination
• Units remain affordable: 30 years
• Payment to avoid: 3% of project's building permit
• Developers only get zoning incentives if they include 60% AMI units
• Requires a share of affordable units also be accessible for disabled people

Here's what the coalition wanted that didn't make it into the ordinance:

• Requires 10% of units in any new build to set aside as affordable: 5% at 80% AMI, 5% at 60% AMI
• Units remain affordable: 99 years
• Payment to avoid the ordinance: 5% of a project's building permit