AHEAD Coalition

 

The Affordable Housing and Environmental Adaptation Dollars (AHEAD) Coalition is a diverse coalition of environmental and housing advocacy organizations that have joined forces to advocate for major new state investments to protect our families, neighbors, and communities from the affordable housing crisis and climate change. Even with recent policy commitments, we cannot combat our housing or climate crises without significant new revenue – the math simply doesn’t work.

We are fighting for The AHEAD Act to ensure a sustainable future with climate resilient, energy efficient housing that is affordable to working families, seniors, and those with low-to-moderate incomes.

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The AHEAD Act (SD846 / HD2997), filed by Sen. Eldridge and Rep. Montaño, would generate more than $300 million in new revenue each year to support affordable housing and to fight climate change. It will bring our deeds excise fee (currently by far the lowest in the region) into alignment with neighboring states, while providing off-setting tax credits to low-income home sellers and those who sell to first-time homebuyers.

The AHEAD Act will split funding between affordable housing and climate: 

  • Allocate 50% of increased fee to Affordable Housing Trust Fund and Housing Preservation Stabilization Fund. 

  • Allocate 50% of increased fee to Global Warming Solutions Trust Fund to carry out climate mitigation and adaptation action steps in line with the MA Clean Energy Climate Plan, prioritizing investments in environmental justice communities. 

The AHEAD Act will: 

  • Generate more than $300 million in new revenue annually for housing and climate investments. 

  • Support thousands of new housing vouchers, help construct or preserve tens of thousands of new housing units, & provide flexibility to cover emergency shelter needs. 

  • Support large scale climate mitigation & adaptation projects, such as decarbonization of low- and moderate- income housing, protection of low- income and coastal communities, and expansion of clean energy infrastructure.