Boston's Inclusionary Development Policy and BHA waitlists apply local-preference points for current Boston residents and city employees. HUD requires preferences to be applied without disparate-impact discrimination, periodically reviewed under fair-housing reporting.
Boston's Inclusionary Development Policy (IDP) under BPDA Article 80 reserves a portion of new affordable units for Boston residents and city workers via lottery preference. The Boston Housing Authority similarly applies preference categories on Section 8 and public housing waitlists, including local residency, working families, veterans, and homeless households. HUD oversight, formalized in the 2020 Boston Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing settlement, requires the City to monitor preferences for disparate-impact effects on protected classes. Recent IDP updates also added neighborhood-tied preferences for some projects to mitigate displacement of long-time residents from rapidly gentrifying areas.
Preference policies that produce significant disparate impact on a protected class without legitimate justification can violate the Fair Housing Act and state Ch. 151B.
Boston, MA
The Boston Housing Authority (BHA) administers the federal Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program and the state Massachusetts Rental Voucher Program (MRVP)...
Boston, MA
Massachusetts MGL Ch. 151B §4 prohibits Boston landlords from refusing tenants based on use of housing subsidies including Section 8, MRVP, or veterans' bene...
See how Boston's council district preference rules stack up against other locations.
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