Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell announced last week that Esme Caramello will head the newly established Housing Affordability Unit beginning in July. The unit aims to expand access to affordable housing across the commonwealth.
Her appointment follows Campbell’s visits across the state to drill down on the housing crisis. Her stops included visiting a manufactured home in Taunton, discussing the enforcement of the MBTA Communities Law in Salem, and touring a new housing development in Leominster.
“This new Housing Affordability Unit is to demonstrate to the world that [my office] is going to play a role,” Campbell said on Boston Public Radio Tuesday. “It’s close to almost $1 million to buy a home in Massachusetts. That is absolutely absurd and unacceptable.”
Her office enforces issues like discrimination in housing sales, rentals and mortgages, as well as enforcing laws that aim to increase production of affordable housing. The attorney general filed a lawsuit against Milton in February for its noncompliance with the MBTA Communities Law.
Campbell stressed the importance of integrated efforts within her office, saying, “We want to make sure the work we do is not siloed.”
She also underscored that one part of her office’s work is legislative advocacy, pushing for change on Beacon Hill.
The Massachusetts House recently unveiled a $6.2 billion housing bond bill to address the housing crisis. But that bill did not include a proposed local real estate transfer fee supported by both Gov. Maura Healey and Boston Mayor Michelle Wu.
The fee would charge up to 2% on home sales over $1 million, with the revenue put aside for affordable housing development. City officials have claimed that the fee would generate nearly $100 million for the city’s affordable housing fund each year if implemented.
“I’ve been on the record in support of [the fee] since my City Council days,” Campbell said. “Everyone on the council at that time supported it — because we knew we were in a housing crisis and saw it as a way to create more housing and address the supply issue.”
She hopes to see some tenant protections left out of the House’s housing bond bill make it into the final version.
“These pieces around eviction sealing, access to counsel — our office firmly believes they need to be a part of the housing bill, so we’ll get up there and advocate,” Campbell said. She testified in favor of both of those bills last year.
The attorney general believes that there’s hope for the future of housing in Massachusetts, if public leaders can coordinate.
“If we do it collectively, really well, with the Legislature and administration, we can solve this housing crisis going forward,” she asserted.
