Housing Production Plan

Housing Production
Find Weymouth's Housing Production Plan and Health Addendum here.
 

A Housing Production Plan (HPP) is a community’s proactive strategy for planning and developing affordable housing and providing diverse housing opportunities for all households based on a comprehensive assessment of current and future needs.

Weymouth's HPP was approved by the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) on March 20, 2018. Sources of information for this plan include U.S. census data, population projections, online surveys, community meetings, focus groups, interviews, and more. This project was supported with Community Preservation funds and prepared by RKG Associates of Boston.

In addition to analyzing housing needs, the Town's HPP examined connections between housing and health, including public transportation options, access to healthy food, and walkability. Find the HPP's Health Addendum here.

For more information about Weymouth's HPP, residents can contact Housing Coordinator Jane Kudcey at (781) 682-3639 or send a message online. ​

What does a HPP involve?

The HPP process is a regulation of M.G.L. Chapter 40B, which encourages communities to take a proactive approach to affordable housing development. HPPs are prepared with public participation in accordance with 760 CMR 56.03(4) and guidelines adopted by DHCD. 

All HPsP contains the following elements, covering a time period of five years:

  • Comprehensive housing needs assessment. A HPP examines a community’s existing housing stock and population, what demographic trends will affect future growth, and what the needs for housing will be in the future.
  • Affordable housing goals. A HPP identifies a numerical goal for annual housing production as well as goals for building a diverse housing supply, consistent with local and regional needs and feasible within the housing market.
  • Implementation strategies. A HPP establishes the community’s strategies for municipal action to achieve its housing production goals. Examples of strategies include zoning modifications, regional collaborations, and target areas for new development.

Why prepare a HPP?

A HPP provides an opportunity to understand a community’s current housing conditions and then determine the projected housing needs of both the current population and future population based on projected growth (more families, more elders, etc.). For example:

  • Are there enough “starter homes” for new households? 
  • Is there adequate workforce housing?
  • What are the options for empty nesters? 
  • How are the needs of the elderly being met? 
  • Are there options for residents with disabilities? 
  • Are there options for both rental and home ownership?

Weymouth's HPP provides goals and strategies for the kinds and locations of new housing that will be most responsive to local conditions. The HPP also articulates the Town’s rationale for encouraging certain types of housing development based on projected needs and preferences. 

Weymouth's HPP was approved by DHCD in March 2018. With state approval, this plan may provide greater local control over potentially undesirable comprehensive permit applications, more commonly known as Chapter 40B applications. (Chapter 40B applications allow developers to override local zoning ordinances and bylaws in order to create affordable housing in municipalities where less than 10 percent of the housing stock is defined as affordable OR where less than 1.5% of the municipality's land area is occupied by affordable housing.)

If a community has a state-approved HPP and is granted a DHCD certificate of compliance with that plan, a decision by the city or town's Board of Zoning Appeals to deny a Chapter 40B application will be upheld by the state's Housing Appeals Committee (HAC). DHCD will grant a certificate of compliance if Weymouth produces 117 units of affordable housing.  

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