At Abundant Housing Massachusetts, we believe solving our housing crisis requires us to build more homes, protect renters and make major investments in affordable housing. State representative Mike Connolly has worked consistently across all three of those areas.
Connolly helped found and now co-chairs the Housing For All Caucus, bringing legislators together around a broad housing agenda. He has also engaged Abundant Housing Massachusetts directly in the caucus’ work, including efforts to advance reforms such as allowing single-stair residential buildings that can make midsized apartment buildings more feasible and affordable to construct. He has consistently co-sponsored pro-housing legislation and used his position in the Legislature to help turn those policies into law – from accessory dwelling units by-right statewide to unlocking more housing production around transit.
He has also been a pioneer on social housing. Last term, he introduced the Massachusetts Social Housing Act and worked with the Healey-Driscoll administration and legislative leaders to secure a social housing funding authorization in the Affordable Homes Act. He then successfully advocated for social housing to be included as state policy in the commonwealth’s first-ever statewide housing plan. Going from a new policy concept to an official part of the commonwealth’s housing strategy in a single legislative term is almost unheard of.
And Connolly continues to push for the next generation of housing reforms. This term, he has worked to advance “Yes in God’s Backyard” legislation to allow housing on land owned by faith-based institutions, and policies to make it easier to convert vacant office buildings into homes.
Cambridge and Somerville have a housing champion in Connolly. Abundant Housing Massachusetts is proud to endorse Connolly and hopes to see voters return him to the State House.
Jesse Kanson-Benanav
The writer is executive director of Abundant Housing Massachusetts, a pro-housing organization.
