Mark Herz This is GBH’s Morning Edition. Local polls are open today in Needham, where a special election is being held on whether the town will embrace a zoning plan for more multifamily housing. Residents are deciding if they want to reverse a previous town meeting plan that put the town in compliance with the MBTA Communities Act — that’s the law that requires cities and towns that are served by the T to build multifamily housing. The law was recently upheld by the state’s highest court, which also upheld the state attorney general’s right to take legal action if communities do not comply. Greg Reibman is the president and CEO of the Charles River Regional Chamber, and he joins us now to talk about the vote in Needham and the need, of course, to address the housing crisis in eastern Mass. Good morning, Greg. Thanks for coming in.

Greg Reibman Thanks for having me.

Herz Yeah, it’s a pleasure. So after passing the zoning compliance in October, Needham fell out of compliance when a group of residents gathered enough signatures for this special election that’s taking place today. What are people voting on today? We really need you to kind of break this down a little bit. What does a yes vote do? What does a no vote do?

Reibman So a yes vote upholds the decision by Needham Town Meeting in October to rezone parts of the town in compliance with the state law known as the MBTA Communities Law. A no vote would repeal it and start the process all over again. It would mean that it would have to go back to the planning board, which would have to create a new plan in town meeting to create a new plan.

Herz: Well, tell us, who are the people who gathered the signatures? What’s been going on there? I mean, the town council back in I think it was mid-January, passed a plan, a very generous plan to get thousands of new units together. So clearly, there’s two factions here. And these two factions, of course, you know, represent more at large what’s going on in Eastern Mass.

Reibman: So the plan that was passed by town meeting, actually, what it does as the state law also does, is it creates opportunities to build new housing. It doesn’t mandate housing. The state law does not require anyone to build housing. It makes it easier for developers to do it, and it makes it easier for developers to do it near transit. Needham spent more than two years coming up with this plan. They were working on creating a new housing plan long before the MBTA Communities Law became clear to them that they have to do this. So Needham passes this law after a two-year process, packed community meetings throughout the summer. It looked like it was all in good shape. Approved by town meeting in October. And then, as is allowed under the town’s charter, a group of opponents who were unhappy with that and preferred a smaller version of the plan — or at least that’s what they say, they preferred a smaller version — created a signature campaign to put it on the ballot, which is where we are today.

Herz: And, you know, you said in one of your recent weekly newsletters that I read that this vote today isn’t just about Needham. Explain that.

Reibman: Yeah. I think the whole state is watching this. I know folks on Beacon Hill are watching this. I know it’s really critical because what we have here is, is the second time that this law has been challenged by referendum, the first being Milton.

Herz: Right.

Reibman: Which, as folks know, repealed that. And Milton has been found to be in violation of the law. And last week, the Supreme Judicial Court confirmed that the law was indeed constitutional and confirmed that the attorney general has the right to force Milton to comply with the law.

Herz: Right. The state Attorney General Andrea Campbell.

Reibman: Correct. Yes. And so now today, we have the second challenge at a ballot referendum of that same law. And this one coming just days after that important ruling from the court.

Herz: Well, explain to us, because as you say, this is bigger than Needham. And as I was saying, I think these these two points of view are present throughout Eastern Massachusetts. What is this point of view about, where there’s this skepticism of too much multifamily housing?

Reibman: So we have a housing crisis, a well-documented housing crisis in Massachusetts. It’s forcing people [not] to live here. It’s making it impossible for young folks to live in communities where they grew up, or to live near their jobs. It’s making it really difficult for seniors to downsize. That’s, I mean, that is really the intention of this law. And that is why folks, including our chamber, support this vigorously. We believe it’s really important. Opponents are either skeptical that it will make a difference or simply unwilling to see the kind of change they want in their community. You know, they like their community the way it is. They like it the way it is when they arrived there, when they moved in or, you know, have a different vision of that. So it’s bigger than Needham because this is the same argument that’s happening all across — well really all across the country, but in this case, all across the state, including 177 communities in Massachusetts that are impacted by the state law.

Herz: Yeah. And also, now you represent a regional chamber, so you have the business point of view. And you and I have talked in the past, just explain how you see it that your members, specifically of the chamber, not just residents who are out there voting, but business owners — and I think you can fairly say again, this is sort of perhaps across the board in Eastern Mass., that there’s a lot of business owners who see the Communities Act as something really positive. Explain that.

Reibman: Right. It’s really important because our employers have been struggling to hire. They’ve seen that exodus of young workers going to other states. If they want to hire, employ folks — ad we’re not talking about young workers straight out of college necessarily, even although we’re talking about them, but folks in their 30s who find it impossible to find a house near their job out in our suburban communities. And we have tech companies and life science companies and all kinds of offices that are looking to fill those jobs. So that’s category number one: Employers need housing for their employees in order to attract them to the jobs, particularly in the suburbs where it’s hard to get to otherwise. Part number two is our restaurants and our shops in our small downtowns and communities all across Massachusetts would benefit from the foot traffic by placing more housing near their stores, near their restaurants or whatever. That foot traffic is really important. It’s also really important because they need to hire too. And what we’ve seen is — there was a survey of Massachusetts businesses, that showed that almost seven out of ten business owners, small business owners, say that they will be looking to sell their business or close their business in the next decade. So the challenge for communities is where is the next generation of business owners, small shop owners, going to come from, if we make it impossible for them to be successful in our small downtowns?

Herz: Greg Reibman, head of the Charles River Regional Chamber, thanks for coming in.

Reibman: You bet. Thank you.

Polls are open in Needham today for a special election surrounding the MBTA Communities Act, which requires cities and towns enact plans to support the development of multifamily housing.

Residents will vote on whether to reverse a previous town meeting zoning plan that put Needham in compliance with the law.

“Needham spent more than two years [working on creating a new housing plan],” said Greg Reibman, president and CEO of the Charles River Regional Chamber . “And then, as is allowed under the town’s charter, a group of opponents who were unhappy with that and preferred a smaller version of the plan ... created a signature campaign to put it on the ballot, which is where we are today.”

He said a no vote would repeal the town’s zoning plan and start the process all over again.

“I think the whole state is watching this. I know folks on Beacon Hill are watching this,” Reibman said.

The MBTA Communities Act applies to 177 cities and towns across Massachusetts near MBTA service.

Needham is not the first of those communities to take up a vote related to the law. Milton voters rejected a compliant zoning plan, resulting in the town facing a lawsuit from Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell.

The state’s Supreme Judicial Court ruled last week to uphold the law.

The debate over the MBTA Communities Act comes as the state continues to grapple with an ongoing housing affordability crisis. A 2024 study from the Massachusetts Housing Partnership found that from August 2022 to September 2024, eviction filings surpassed average pre-pandemic rates — or more than 2,600 total filings per month.

“It’s making it impossible for young folks to live in communities where they grew up, or to live near their jobs. It’s making it really difficult for seniors to downsize,” Reibman said.

He explained that opponents of the MBTA Communities Law are either “skeptical that it will make a difference” or simply don’t want multifamily housing in their communities.

Supporters of the law, he said, believe it would help address the housing crisis and benefit the local economy, including the recruitment of new workers.

“Our employers have been struggling to hire. They’ve seen that exodus of young workers going to other states,” he said. “And we have tech companies and life science companies and all kinds of offices that are looking to fill those jobs.”

Communities all across Massachusetts would also benefit from the foot traffic to their shops and restaurants, Reibman said.

“So the challenge for communities is where is the next generation of business owners [and] small shop owners going to come from if we make it impossible for them to be successful in our small downtowns?” he said.