| The town of Brookline will drastically reduce its local preference lottery applicant percentage from 70 percent to 25 in an effort to reach a more diverse roster of applicants.
Most communities reserve a large percentage of affordable housing units built under local inclusionary zoning requirements or under a 40B permit for residents who already live, work or have children who attend public school in the municipality.
Many municipalities, including Brookline, set their housing lotteries’ local preference at 70 percent, which is the maximum allowed by the state Department of Housing and Community Development.
While agreeing that a more limited local preference is worth retaining, Brookline’s Housing Advisory Board members saw in adopting this reduction “a practical and compelling opportunity to encourage more racial diversity in Brookline,” according to a statement from the town.
The HAB decision came after a review of past town lotteries and local preference policies in other Greater Boston communities, which concluded that the town’s 70 percent local preference policy reduced the probability of otherwise-qualified Black and Hispanic applicants being awarded an affordable housing unit in Brookline.
