Intersection of Harvard and Beacon streets at spiffy Coolidge Corner, in Brookline.
—Photo by Ddogas
Adapted from Robert Whitcomb’s “Digital Diary,’’ in GoLocal24.com
Brookline Town Meeting members have voted by a large margin to change zoning laws to encourage construction of more apartments and multifamily housing in commercial strips near MBTA routes. The idea is to add enough to the housing stock to slow the relentless rise in local housing costs, which among other things, threaten to make Massachusetts much less economically competitive. And the zoning change would help control sprawl.
The vote was a response to the MBTA Communities Act, which some communities have fought. That law requires multifamily zoning near public transit to address the region’s housing crisis. Brookline, like many affluent communities, has tended to fight increased density. The resulting scarcity, of course, has raised prices to the unaffordable level for many low-and-middle-income people.
Will Brookline be a model for the region?
Maybe, maybe not. Consider that in affluent Newton, voters in a low-turnout election tossed out three city councilors who backed a housing plan along the lines of Brookline’s.
