The Affordable Homes Act was passed by the Massachusetts Legislature and signed by Governor Healey in 2024. This new law contains several provisions and funding sources intended to make housing more affordable throughout Massachusetts. One policy initiative included in the law is the Seasonal Communities designation. This designation is intended to help communities that are challenged by significant variations in residency and employment numbers depending on the time of year. The eligible communities are currently found in only Berkshire, Barnstable, Dukes, and Nantucket Counties. Ideally, the Seasonal Communities designation will give towns like Stockbridge a new set of tools and funding opportunities to address the housing crisis tailored to our specific needs.

Laws often include policy provisions that are left somewhat vague and in need of clarity through the regulatory process. Seasonal Communities is an example of one such policy and regulations are currently being proposed to fine tune the law to make the opportunities as effective as possible. I serve as a member of the Seasonal Communities Advisory Council and our charge is to make recommendations to the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities on regulations that will be the most useful to our communities. We are at an important moment in our work where draft regulations have been proposed by EOHLC and the time for comments from the public is open.

Draft regulations were made available on Friday, September 26th. These draft regulations can be accessed at the following link- download. Written comments on the proposed regulations may be submitted no later than 11:59 PM on October 31, 2025, by emailing them to EOHLCRegulationComments@mass.gov , including “Comments on 760 CMR 76” in the subject line. EOHLC will incorporate the feedback received from the public with the hope of final regulations being promulgated by late November.

There is currently $2 million allocated for municipalities that have adopted the Seasonal Communities designation. The number of communities currently in the pool is small so the potential to secure significant awards will be greater during the first few years. The actual parameters of grant programs have not yet been established so I encourage any ideas on specific proposals to be sent to either EOHLC or to me directly at paul.mark@masenate.gov during this feedback period.

Please be in touch if I can answer any questions and thank you as always for the opportunity to serve as our voice in the Massachusetts Senate.