Healey Moves to Fast-Track Housing by Cutting Environmental Review Times

Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey in Pittsfield, Massachusetts city hall on January 2nd, 2024. (Josh Landes/ WAMC). Courtesy of WAMC Northeast Public Radio. 

Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey has announced a sweeping plan to accelerate housing construction in Massachusetts by streamlining environmental regulations and reducing the review time for qualifying housing projects from more than a year to just 30 days. The Healey administration argues this change is necessary to address the state’s severe housing shortage, which has driven up prices for renters and homebuyers. By allowing developers to move forward more quickly, officials hope to lower costs, increase supply, and make housing more affordable. The proposal follows the Unlocking Housing Production Commission’s, which exists to advise on revisions of state and local regulation to increase the supply of housing and lower costs in Massachusetts. This is based on findings that long environmental reviews often delay projects, add significant costs, and in some cases make developments financially impossible to complete.

Massachusetts faces a chronic housing shortage, with median home prices rising to 74% over the past decade and average rents in Boston reaching  around $3,000 per month. The shortage is especially acute in Gateway Cities, which are the 26 mid-sized urban centers throughout the state that have served as important industrial hubs in the past but now face economic challenges. These cities have unrealized potential, where demand for affordable housing far exceeds supply, affecting students, low-income families, and working professionals.

Under the proposed rules, developers of housing projects that meet certain criteria—such as being primarily residential, transit-oriented, energy-efficient, and located outside floodplains—would no longer need to complete a full Environmental Impact Report. Instead, they could file a simpler Environmental Notification Form, which state officials say will save time and money while still protecting natural resources. The plan also limits the extent to which  undeveloped land projects can alter and requires that new housing avoid priority habitats, prime farmland, and carbon-rich forests. In addition to housing projects, the proposal streamlines reviews for ecological restoration projects, such as cranberry bog recovery and partial dam removals, which the administration says will help advance climate resilience.

The Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act (MEPA) requires developers to assess impacts on wetlands, wildlife, energy consumption, and flood risk before construction. Traditionally, projects can take over a year to complete these assessments, and delays often added hundreds of thousands of dollars to development costs. By shortening this process, the administration hopes to make more projects financially viable and encourage faster housing production. However, the move has sparked debate over whether expediting reviews will weaken climate protections, as critics warn that faster approvals may overlook risks to ecosystems and long-term environmental resilience.

Supporters argue that the change is a bold but necessary step to overcome Massachusetts’ long-standing housing crisis. Business groups, housing advocates, and some environmental organizations praise the plan for aligning affordability goals with sustainability standards. They point out that the rules favor dense, transit-oriented developments that reduce sprawl (the uncontrolled expansion of low-density, car-dependent development into surrounding areas, leading to single-family homes on large lots, large commercial lots with big parking lots, and a lack of connectivity between different areas) and can lower long-term energy costs for residents. Healey has already made housing a top priority, with nearly 100,000 units built or in development since she took office. She hopes this reform will help the state meet its target of 222,000 new units by 2035. “We crafted this law in a way that we thought was responding to the unique aspect of local control, local decision making, Town Meeting form of government we have in Massachusetts, but that made it incredibly difficult,” said Jesse Kanson-Benanav, Executive Director of the pro-housing advocacy group Abundant Housing Massachusetts.

Still, the plan faces questions about whether speeding up reviews will weaken environmental protections and limit community input. Critics warn that shortening the process risks overlooking local impacts, from wetland preservation to infrastructure capacity, especially in areas already under strain. While the administration promises that transparency and community engagement requirements will remain, some worry the shortened timeline will leave little room for meaningful public involvement. Even with state-level reforms, local zoning and permitting processes can still delay projects, as seen with developments under Massachusetts' Chapter 40B, where local opposition can slow construction. State Senator Paul Mark (D-Peru) expressed concerns that the expedited review process might overlook local impacts, particularly in rural communities with limited staffing. He emphasized the need for careful consideration of citing issues in towns like Becket, Blandford, and Granville, officially designated as rural communities, where infrastructure challenges are significant. 

The proposal is now open for public comment until the end of October, with hearings scheduled in mid-October. Healey’s administration says it is confident that the new system will both protect the environment and expedite the construction of  desperately needed housing. Whether it succeeds will depend on how well the state balances its push for urgent housing production with the need to safeguard ecosystems and ensure that development benefits communities across Massachusetts.