State Auditor criticizes the MBTA Communities Act

Massachusetts State Auditor Diana DiZoglio is voicing her opinion on a part of the state housing law. 

The MBTA Communities Act requires that towns and cities serviced by the MBTA allow for multifamily housing near public transit. DiZoglio claims that the state did not provide funding for these districts when the law was passed. 

“Our office is not able to literally ignore that the local mandate law does require contemporaneous funding be appropriated,” DiZoglio said.

DiZoglio’s office was requested by the Wrentham Select Board to research and address the concerns around this act. Her office concluded that the law didn’t provide the proper funding for the towns and districts to meet this law’s requirements, and it “constitutes an unfunded mandate.”

DiZoglio thinks that the law is unfunded because it “does not provide a funding mechanism for compliance with its provisions.”

Attorney General Andrea Campbell replied to DiZoglio’s ruling and disagreed with her.

“The Auditor’s claim that the MBTA Communities Law is an unfunded mandate is wrong, and, more importantly, this letter has no effect whatsoever on implementation of the Law,” Campbell said. “If those who oppose housing affordability try to make a similar claim in court, the state will vigorously defend the law, and we intend to be successful, as we have been so far.”

Michael King, Wrentham’s Interim Town Manager, requested DiZogilo’s Division of Local Mandates (DLM) to investigate the law. The DLM has not issued a determination of the law’s financial costs yet, after “further data collection and analysis.”