Affordable housing construction can go higher in Somerville with adoption of a technology called mass timber, city councilor Ben Ewen-Campen said Monday. A zoning change to allow all-affordable buildings to go to eight stories from seven under the city’s Affordable Housing Overlay was moved to the council’s Land Use Committee for discussion.
The committee conversation is expected March 19, Ewen-Campen said.
Mass timber is made by layering and bonding wood to form strong structural components that can replace steel or concrete, advocates say. Because it’s lighter and easier to work with, construction is cheaper, quieter and faster, and projects have fewer limits; at more than six stories, builders believe steel framing begins to be needed to guarantee structural safety, which changes the financing of buildings and forces a leap up in height to eventually pay back the costs.
The technology was introduced last year in Land Use by then-chair Matt McLaughlin with a presentation by architect Gavin Robb. “One way that we can take advantage of this new, cost- effective and kind of interesting construction technology is to amend the Affordable Housing Overlay to allow up to eight stories instead of the current seven – that’s something that mass timber makes cost effective in a new way,” said Ewen-Campen, the committee’s current chair.
When councilors approached city planners with the idea, they learned improvements to the overlay were already being considered. The combined changes, including the proposed eight-story height, make up “the first significant set of amendments to improve and expand the overlay” since the zoning was introduced in 2020, Ewen-Campen said.
The zoning, designed to make it easier to build affordable housing, is having an effect citywide, Ewen-Campen said, pointing to the start of work on a six-story, 43-Unit affordable building at 24 Webster Ave., Union Square. The project, by the nonprofit developer Just A Start with funding from the MassHousing agency, replaces a vacant 1910 commercial building and is expected to be ready for tenants in the fall of 2027.
In addition to 24 Webster Ave. “there are a few other projects in the hopper” under the overlay, Ewen-Campen said.
Robb was invited to speak at Monday’s meeting about mass timber.
“There are pressing, intersectional and existential issues facing Somerville today. As we all know, we’re deep in a housing crisis, and we desperately need more affordable housing. At the same time, we should be building durable, high-quality, beautiful, sustainable housing, not just for the next five years but for the next 100 years, and this amendment gets us closer,” Robb said.
Support for state bill
The council also went on record in support of a bill in the Legislature to create a permanent affordability homeownership program for low- and moderate-income residents. The bill was introduced a year ago by state representative Christopher Worrell of Boston and state senator Liz Miranda, whose district covers several communities, including Roxbury, Dorchester, Mattapan, Hyde Park, Mission Hill, Jamaica Plain, the South End, Roslindale and the Fenway.
It supports small and midsized projects of one to 25 homes, helps develop mixed-use projects and adds missing tools to the state’s housing programs, councilor Jon Link said.
“It’s a really great bill, and I’m really hopeful it will pass so that we can continue to add affordable housing stock to our city,” Link said.
All councilors joined in endorsing the bill.
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