State vs. Suburb: Why the Battle Over Affordable Housing in Milton Could Shape the Future of Massachusetts Neighborhoods

The town of Milton, Massachusetts seems unassuming enough, and I mean that in a good way. Located just outside of Boston, it seems like any number of affluent eastern Massachusetts suburbs.

For a town of less than 30,000 residents, it has a surprisingly impressive list of people who grew up there, including actress Jenny Slate and former Celtics guard Dana Barros. President George H. W. Bush didn’t grow up there, but he was born in Milton, and I’m sure some Miltonians like to believe they played some small role in securing the presidency for him.

My point is that this place seems nice. So why is Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell suing the whole town? And how could this lawsuit affect you?

Let’s start with the first one… why is the state of Massachusetts suing Milton, its own town?

It all began two years ago, when the Massachusetts State Legislature informed a few dozen towns that they must have at least one zoning district for dense, multi-family housing. If a town didn’t comply, they would not be eligible for certain state funds.

Milton began to take those steps, spending countless time and money developing a plan so that they wouldn’t run afoul of the state.

However, the town held a vote as to whether or not they wanted to implement this plan. The townsfolk called the state’s bluff, and chose to risk less funding instead of having to comply with the law.

The plan was rejected by roughly 5,000 voters in February, at which point the State apparently felt they had to intervene. That’s when the Massachusetts Attorney General filed a lawsuit against the town demanding they comply with the regulation (or guideline… they don’t quite know what to call it, which as you’ll see is part of the problem).

So that brings us to this week in Massachusetts’ highest court, the Supreme Judicial Court, where lawyers for the state and lawyers for the town gave their arguments.

Lawyers for Massachusetts are saying that this was a regulation handed down by the state, and that the town was REQUIRED to follow the Multi-Family Zoning Requirements. The town counters that argument by saying that is was a guideline, not a regulation, and that the state essentially told them they were free to follow the guideline or not. The town knew that the state wanted them to comply, and the town knew there would be consequences if they failed to follow the state’s instruction. They simply weighed the pros and cons and decided the benefit for them was greater if they did not follow the guidelines.

At that point, the state basically said, “Well, wait… we didn’t think anyone would turn down money.” Angered or confused by this, or possibly in an act of retaliation, or perhaps one of muscle-flexing, or possibly just in an attempt to help out those in need of affordable housing (but most likely not that last one), the state of Massachusetts sued the town of Massachusetts for not following a rule that wasn’t really a rule to begin with.

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