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January 8, 2025 | Legal Advisory

On January 8, 2025, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court issued its much-anticipated opinion in Attorney General v. Town of Milton, et al. The SJC upheld the MBTA Communities Act as constitutional and found that the Attorney General has the power to enforce it consistent with her broad powers to enforce the laws of the Commonwealth and to protect the public interest. The Act, among other things, requires communities serviced by the MBTA to allow as-of-right multi-family housing within a half-mile of a transit station—an important tool in addressing the state’s ongoing housing and homelessness crisis. The SJC found that the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities’ guidelines, however, are ineffective because they were not promulgated in compliance with the Administrative Procedure Act, G.L. c. 30A. Accordingly, the agency’s guidelines must be promulgated as regulations in accordance with the Administrative Procedure Act before they may be enforced.

Nutter filed an amicus brief in support of the MBTA Communities Act on behalf of the Massachusetts Housing and Shelter Alliance, Father Bill’s and Mainspring, the Planning Office of Urban Affairs, and the United Way of Massachusetts Bay.

This advisory was prepared by Matt Connolly, Valerie Moore, and Matt Snell in Nutter’s Real Estate Department. For more information, please contact the authors or your Nutter attorney at 617.439.2000.

This advisory is for information purposes only and should not be construed as legal advice on any specific facts or circumstances. Under the rules of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, this material may be considered as advertising.