Massachusetts Senate Democrats announced Monday a five-year, $5 billion housing bond bill they say will help “spur production” and “preserve and promote” housing access as the state battles a housing crunch. The bill omits a controversial measure proposed by Governor Maura Healey that would have imposed a new tax on property sales of more than $1 million.

Asked about the transfer tax omission, Senate Chair of the Joint Committee on Housing Lydia Edwards pointed to the Community Preservation Act, which gives local communities the ability to raise taxes for public space, preservation and housing, as an existing local option measure that should be sharpened.

“Before we add an additional tax, we think it’s incumbent upon us to look at what we have already provided in tools in the toolkit,” she said. “One hundred and ninety six cities and towns have a form of CPA, and that is an opt in local option kind of tax, and it has not been working as well as it should have been.”

Advocates of the transfer tax responded with disappointment. 

“If we agree that housing is a crisis, we should act like it by making every tool available,” said a statement from the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization. “At the end of the day, this omission means that our cities and towns have been denied a real fighting chance to start bringing in new funds for the development of affordable housing.”

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, a vocal supporter of the transfer tax, said the city will continue attempts to enact it.

“This is a broadly popular measure across all of our communities. We know residents understand the need for more funding for affordable housing,” Wu said. 

The Massachusetts House passed its own version of the bill earlier this month that also left out the transfer tax language.

All told, Senate Democrats estimate their bill would produce about 40-thousand units, about a fifth of what the Governor’s Office of Housing and Livable Communities has said Massachusetts needs within the next decade to house the growing population and bring down housing prices.

“This important legislation continues the Senate’s commitment to creating a Commonwealth that is more competitive, affordable and equitable, with a focus on helping lower and middle income residents struggling with high housing costs,” said Senate President Karen E. Spilka, Senate Ways and Means Chair Michael J. Rodrigues and Lydia Edwards in a joint statement revealing the bill’s details. 

“To help course correct for decades of racially biased housing policies, the Senate’s bill establishes the Fair Housing Office for the purpose of eliminating housing discrimination and furthering the state’s approach to fair housing. It also supports tax credits, such as the Homeownership Tax Credit for first-time home owners and an increase in the Community Investment Tax Credit Program, to help the Commonwealth reach its housing goals.”

The bill includes $2 billion for repairs and renovations of public housing units, $800 million for the Affordable Housing Trust Fund to support housing for middle class incomes, $200 million to support “innovative and alternative forms of rental housing” including transitional and permanent housing for people experiencing homelessness, and $50 million for both a seasonal community housing innovation program and a rural and small town housing program.

The bill also includes renter-friendly legal provisions like providing a way for tenants to ask to seal their eviction records. It also includes a measure to stop landlords from passing brokers’ fees on to renters, an aspect Chair Edwards celebrated when talking to reporters.

“For many people, we all know, just being able to pay first (month’s rent), last (month’s rent) and security (deposit), and now brokers fee has made the traditional move-in cost to be almost $12,000, $15,000,” she said. “If you’re a landlord, you’re paying for the whole fee.”

Senate Democrats said in a statement Monday they will seek a vote on their bill later this week. After that, the two chambers will have to reconcile and decide what to include and leave out of a bond bill both can approve.

Edwards said everything is negotiable when that stage of the process arrives.

“I think both sides and the governor have a sense of urgency around this conversation, and I just know that we’re going to be dedicated to doing everything we can, both sides, to get this done.”