Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU)

An Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) is a small, self-contained home located on the same lot as a single-family house. ADUs can be created within an existing home, added as an attachment, or built as a detached unit such as a backyard cottage or converted garage, and they are an important tool for expanding housing options.

Under Massachusetts’ 2024 Affordable Homes Act, ADUs of up to 900 square feet are allowed by right in single-family districts. Gloucester’s ADU ordinance permits one ADU per lot, subject to local rules including owner occupancy, a 30-day minimum rental term, size limits (900 square feet or 50% of the main home), one additional off-street parking space, and design, building, and health code requirements to ensure neighborhood compatibility.

 

Adaptive Reuse

The conversion of nonresidential properties such as mills, schools, hospitals, military bases, motels, warehouses, office buildings, etc. into residential or mixed uses.

 

Affordable Housing

Housing is considered "affordable" when it costs 30% or less of a household's income. Deed-restricted Affordable Housing is for income-eligible households, and the cost cannot be more than 30% of their income.

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Affordable Housing Trust

An Affordable Housing Trust is a municipal entity created under state law that allows a community to hold and spend funds outside the its municipal budget to support affordable housing. Trusts can fund housing production, preservation, rental and homeownership assistance, and related planning efforts, helping communities meet local housing needs and state affordability goals. Information about Gloucester’s Affordable Housing Trust can be found here.

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Area Median Income (AMI)

To determine housing eligibility for deed-restricted Affordable Housing, government programs use an estimated median income, adjusted for family size, by metropolitan area (or county, in non‐ metropolitan areas). AMI is updated annually by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and used as the basis of eligibility for most housing assistance programs.  See also Local Median Household Income

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Brownfields

 An abandoned, idled, or underused property where expansion or redevelopment is complicated by real or perceived contamination. Brownfield sites include abandoned factories and other industrial facilities, gasoline stations, oil storage facilities, dry cleaning stores, and other businesses that formerly dealt with polluting substances. More information about the state’s brownfields redevelopment fund can be found here.

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Chapter 40B

 The state’s Comprehensive Permit law, enacted in 1969, established an affordable housing goal of 10% for every community. In communities below the 10% goal, developers of low and moderate income housing can seek an expedited local review under the comprehensive permit process and can request a limited waiver of local zoning and other restrictions which hamper construction of affordable housing. Developers can appeal to the state if their application is denied or approved with conditions that render it uneconomic and the state can overturn the local decision if it finds it unreasonable in light of the need for affordable housing. More information about the state’s Chapter 40B can be found here.  

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Chapter 40R

Also known as the Smart Growth Zoning Overlay District Act (Chapter 149 of the Acts of 2004), M.G.L.  Chapter 40R encourages communities through financial incentives to create dense residential or mixed‐ use smart growth zoning districts which include a high percentage of affordable housing units, located near transit stations and/or in areas of concentrated development such as existing city and town centers. More information about the state’s 40R can be found here.

 

Community Development Block Grant (CDBG)

The Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program is a federal program that provides communities with resources to address a wide range of unique community development needs. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) provides funding either directly to larger municipalities designated as entitlement communities or through the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development’s CDBG program.  More information on the state CDBG program can be found here. 

Gloucester’s municipal CDBG program information can be found here.

 

Community Economic Development Assistance Corporation (CEDAC)

A quasi‐public agency created by the Legislature in 1978 to provide development assistance to nonprofit developers in order to increase the supply of affordable housing and help revitalize chronically distressed areas. By statute, it can only provide services to nonprofit corporations.  CEDAC maintains a database on their website of over 1,400 properties statewide at risk of losing their affordability.    www.cedac.org

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Community Preservation Act (CPA)/ Chapter 44B  

The Community Preservation Act Enabling Legislation (Chapter 267 of the Acts of 2000). Allows communities, at local option, to establish a Community Preservation Fund to preserve open space, historic resources and community housing, by imposing a surcharge of up to 3% on local property taxes. The state provides matching funds from its own Community Preservation Trust Fund, generated from an increase in certain Registry of Deed’s fees.  The Community Preservation Coalition (CPC) provides detailed information and a searchable database of communities participating in the CPA program.  www.communitypreservation.org

 Information about Gloucester’s Community Preservation Committee can be found here.

 

Congregate Housing

Housing accommodation that offers separate rooms or apartments but provides shared activities of daily living with other residents.  

 

Conservation Easement

 A legal agreement, often used to preserve rural areas or greenfields, in which a government or nonprofit can purchase a property in return for the guarantee of preserving it from development.

 

Co‐operative (co‐op)  

A form of shared ownership housing where all residents own stock in the corporation that owns the property. They do not own their units, but co‐op share ownership entitles a resident to a long‐term lease on a unit and a vote in the governance of the property. Limited equity cooperatives are a form of affordable, resident‐controlled homeownership in which the individual share purchase prices are very low so that the resident does not need mortgage financing to buy in. Like rental properties, co‐ops may be syndicated to raise money for the construction.

 

Cottage Housing  

Cottage Housing is generally defined as a grouping of small, single family dwelling units clustered around a common area and developed with a coherent plan for the entire site. They have gained popularity in recent years as a type of infill development on small sites, within existing developed areas. The cottage units may have other shared amenities. The shared common area and coordinated design allow densities that are higher than typical single family neighborhoods, while minimizing impacts on adjacent residential areas.  

 

Deferred loan (a.k.a. deferred payment second mortgage or soft debt)

Debt (borrowed money), often from a public or charitable source, repayment of which may be postponed for a specified period of time, indefinitely, of forgiven entirely, if the property maintains certain levels of affordability for a defined time period.   Most deeply affordable housing needs some type of deferred loan in order to be feasible. 

 

Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD)

Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) has been reorganized and the functions of DHCD are now under a broader housing umbrella of the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities (EOHLC). More information on the state’s housing programs can be found here.

 

Department of Housing and Urban Development  (HUD)

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s mission is to create strong, sustainable communities and quality affordable homes.  HUD administers hundreds of programs targeting communities from urban to rural. www.hud.gov   

 

Entitlement Community

A city or urban county of at least 50,000 in population making it eligible for Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds directly from HUD.

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Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities (EOHLC)

The Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities was established in 2023 to create more homes and lower housing costs for MA residents. EOHLC also distributes funding to municipalities, oversees the state-aided public housing portfolio, and operates the state's Emergency Family Shelter (EA) program. https://www.mass.gov/orgs/executive-office-of-housing-and-livable-communities

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Expiring Use Restrictions  

Refers to affordable housing where the restrictions on rents and/or incomes of occupants could or will expire in the near future if owners prepay their publicly assisted mortgages and convert the units to market rate housing. The units were built with federal and/or state subsidies (such as low cost mortgages, interest subsidies, rent subsidies and loan guarantees). While mortgages and other assistance often had terms as long as 30‐40 years, many gave owners the option to prepay the mortgage after 20 years and thus remove use restrictions on the property. Also see CEDAC.

 

Fair Housing Act/MA Fair Housing Act

Federal legislation, first enacted in 1968 and expanded by amendments in 1974 and 1988, that provides the Secretary of HUD with investigation and enforcement responsibilities for fair housing practices. The law prohibits discrimination in housing and lending based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, handicap, of familial status. There is also a Massachusetts Fair Housing Act, which extends the prohibition against discrimination to sexual orientation, marital status, ancestry, veteran status, children, and age. The state law also prohibits discrimination against families receiving public assistance or rental subsidies, or because of any requirement of these programs.

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Fair Market Rents (FMRs)

Maximum rents allowed by HUD in the Section 8 rental assistance program. Updated and published annually, FMRs represent HUD’s estimate of the actual market rent for an apartment in the conventional marketplace. HUD sets FMRs by unit size (0 bedroom, 1 bedroom, etc.) and regions within each state. The current FMRs are posted on HUD’s website: https://www.hud.gov/.

 

Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston (FHLBB)

One of the 12 district banks, the FHLBB covers the 6 New England states and is owned by more than 460 New England financial institutions. A wholesale bank (a bank for banks), it provides access to credit for its members and administers several grant and loan programs to promote community development and expand affordable housing.

 

Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (FHLMC) or Freddie Mac

Congressionally chartered agency established in 1970 (and privatized in 1989) to buy qualifying residential mortgages from originating lenders. The loans are either kept in portfolio of packaged and sold as securities. Freddie Mac also offers programs with more flexible underwriting guidelines for lower income homebuyers. With Fannie Mae, the corporation’s activity has helped to create an enormous secondary mortgage market.

 

Federal National Mortgage Association (FNMA of Fannie Mae)

Created in 1938 to purchase FHA, and later VA and conventional mortgages, Fannie Mae is now privately owned and managed, federally chartered corporation, the largest source of home mortgage funds in the United States. It buys qualifying residential mortgages from originating lenders and either keeps them in portfolio or packages and sells them as securities. Fannie Mae also offers programs with more flexible underwriting guidelines for lower income homebuyers.

 

501(c)(3)

Section of the Internal Revenue Code that grants status as a nonprofit corporation and entitles organizations to receive tax‐exempt status and tax‐deductible donations.

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Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

A computerized system that stores and links spatially defined data in a way that allows information display and processing and production of maps and models. GIS is a powerful planning and analytical tool.

 

Green Building

A whole‐building and systems approach to design and construction that employs building techniques that minimize environmental impacts and reduce the energy consumption of buildings while contributing to the health and productivity of its occupants.

 

Green Development

Development that uses environmentally friendly building practices and energy efficiency. There are a number of public and private incentives for green development, and increasingly, nonprofit developers use green construction as a way of increasing the expendable resources of lower income persons.

 

Greenfields

Undeveloped land. Smart growth principles dictate that new development be steered away from greenfields to the maximum extent possible and toward sites where infrastructure and public transportation already exist, or to contaminated and/or underutilized sites that can be reclaimed to accommodate new development.

 

HOME Investment Partnership Program (HOME)

A federal program run by HUD which provides annual grants on an entitlement basis to states, large cities and consortia of smaller communities for affordable housing activities, including homeownership, rent subsidies, housing development and rehabilitation.  Similar to CDBG funds, some communities are part of a consortium and receive HOME funds directly from HUD and distribute in their communities.   DHCD administers HOME funds at the state level.

 

Housing Appeals Committee (HAC)

A quasi‐judicial body within DHCD, which hears appeals by developers, local zoning boards on comprehensive permit (Chapter 40B) decisions by local Zoning Boards of Appeal.

 

Housing Choice Voucher Program (HCVP)

A HUD program, also called Section 8, providing rental voucher funding to eligible households including low income families, the elderly, and persons with disabilities to assist with monthly housing costs. Participating tenants typically pay 30% of their income for housing (rent and utilities) and the federal subsidy pays the balance of the rent. See also Section 8

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Housing Consumer Education Centers

A statewide information and referral network that assists tenants, landlords, current and prospective homeowners with their housing problems. The Centers are located at agencies that provide a variety of housing services throughout Massachusetts. www.masshousinginfo.org

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Housing Production Plan (HPP)

A Housing Production Plan is a Massachusetts municipality's state-approved, proactive strategy to plan, develop, and preserve affordable housing, aligning local needs with state’s Chapter 40B law to meet low-to-moderate income housing requirements, offering communities greater control over development while addressing diverse housing needs like for seniors, young adults, and the workforce. It involves needs assessments, setting goals, and outlining strategies for creating affordable units, leading to state approval and potential benefits like more local control over zoning. 

 

Housing Stabilization Fund

The Housing Stabilization Fund (HSF) is a state funded program for municipalities, non-profit, or for-profit developers to support affordable rental housing production and rehabilitation.

 

Housing Toolbox/Welcome Home Massachusetts

MHP and the Citizens Housing and Planning Association (CHAPA) created an online affordable housing strategy web site that is designed to be a one‐stop resource for local housing officials and volunteers. Called the Massachusetts Toolbox, the site features content designed to help local officials and volunteers move locally‐initiated affordable housing developments forward. The toolbox provides easy access to strategies and best practices related to the preservation and production of all varieties of affordable housing.   http://housingpolicy.org/index_MA.html

 

Inclusionary Zoning

A local zoning ordinance that either requires or encourages a developer to include deed-restricted Affordable Housing as part of a development, or contribute to a fund for such housing. The bylaw may provide incentives such as increased density, reduced parking requirements, or expedited permitting in exchange for the affordable housing.

 

Income Limits

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) uses Area Median Income (AMI) benchmarks to determine eligibility for most affordable housing programs. Households with incomes at or below 80 % of AMI are generally considered low income and deeper affordability categories include 60 %, 50 %, and 30 % (extremely low income) of AMI. Income limits are updated annually; the current limits in use through 2026 are based on the FY 2025 HUD tables for the Boston-Cambridge-Quincy HUD Metro FMR Area, which includes Gloucester. For a three-person household, these approximate limits are:

• Low Income (80 % of AMI): $119,100

• Very Low Income (60 % of AMI): $89,340

• Very Low Income (50 % of AMI): $74,450

• Extremely Low Income (30 % of AMI): $44,700* (estimated)

 

Infill Development

The practice of building on vacant or undeveloped parcels in dense areas, especially urban and inner suburban neighborhoods. Promotes compact development.  

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Limited Equity Homeownership

Ownership housing where resale values are restricted in order to maintain the long‐term affordability of the units. A technique often used for housing developed with public assistance in order to reduce development costs (e.g. funding, relaxed zoning regulations, discounted sale of public land). Can take the form of a cooperative, a condominium or fee simple ownership.  

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Local Action Units (LAU)

 Local Action Units are affordable housing units that are created through local municipal action without a comprehensive permit and without direct State financial subsidies. Enabling local actions that municipalities can undertake to create LAUs include special permits, inclusionary zoning, conveyance of public land and utilization of Community Preservation Act (CPA) or Affordable Housing Trust funds, among others.

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Local and Regional Housing Authorities (LHAs)

A housing authority set up by a city or town, or group of towns, in accordance with state law, M.G.L. Ch. 149 to provide low‐income family or elderly housing.

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Local Housing Partnership

A local housing committee appointed by the municipality with the purpose of promoting opportunities to produce and preserve affordable housing.

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Local Initiative Program (LIP)

A state program under which communities may use local resources and DHCD technical assistance to develop affordable housing that is eligible for inclusion on the State Housing Inventory (SHI).  LIP is not a financing program, but the DHCD technical assistance qualifies as a subsidy and enables locally supported developments, that do not require other financial subsidies, to qualify for inclusion on the Subsidized Housing Inventory.

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Local Median Household Income
Unlike Area Median Income (AMI), which reflects income levels across a multi-community region, Gloucester’s local median household income measures income only within the City of Gloucester. According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2017–2021 American Community Survey, Gloucester’s median household income is $82,98 

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Low‐Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC)

Federal tax credit for developers to acquire, rehabilitate or construct affordable rental housing. States receive an annual dollar value of credits which they then allocate to qualifying projects based on priorities established in a state allocation plan. DHCD, under the under the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities (EOHLC) is the allocating agency for the state.

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Manufactured Homes

A home built entirely in the factory to a federal building code administered by HUD. The Federal Manufactured Home Construction and Safety Standards (commonly known as the HUD code) went into effect June 15, 1976. Manufactured homes may be single‐ or multi‐ section and are transported to the site and installed. The Federal standards regulate manufactured housing design and construction, strength and durability, transportability, fire resistance, energy efficiency, and quality.

 

Massachusetts Affordable Housing Trust Fund (AHTF)

 A revolving trust fund established by the Massachusetts Legislature as Section 227 of Chapter 159 of the Acts of 2000, and now known as Chapter 121D. Administered by MassHousing, AHTF functions as a gap filler, the last funding piece necessary to make an affordable housing development financially feasible and sustainable for the long term. Funding is typically in the form of deferred loans.

 

MassDevelopment  

A quasi‐public agency created in 1998 by the merger of the Government Land Bank of the Massachusetts Industrial Finance Agency. MassDevelopment offers a variety of programs in support of economic development, large scale real‐estate development projects and brownfield clean‐up including pre‐development assistance, loans, loan guarantees, mortgage insurance and taxable and tax‐exempt bond financing. Its programs can also be used for mixed commercial and residential projects. www.massdevelopment.com

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MassHousing

 A quasi‐public agency created in 1966 to help finance affordable housing programs. MassHousing sells both tax‐exempt and taxable bonds to finance its many single‐family and multi‐family financing programs. The Agency oversees and regulates the properties it has assisted, and runs a number of other programs, some on behalf of HUD and EOHLC.   www.masshousing.com

 

Massachusetts Housing Investment Corporation (MHIC)

A private, non‐profit corporation that provides loans for affordable housing, equity funds for low‐ income housing tax credit (LIHTC) developments and loan guarantees for lead paint abatement loans. Created in 1991 by a consortium of banks, MHIC also administers a bridge financing program for tax credit projects in conjunction with the Massachusetts Housing Partnership Fund. www.mhic.com

 

Massachusetts Housing Partnership (MHP)

A quasi‐public agency created by the state legislature in 1985 to support affordable housing and neighborhood development. It is funded by state‐mandated contributions from interstate banks and has received state funds as well. It is governed by a seven‐member board appointed by the governor and the state’s banking industry. MHP provides,    below‐market financing and bridge loans for affordable rental housing, runs the “One Mortgage” program for first time homebuyers    and provides technical assistance to communities to support affordable housing. www.mhp.net

 

Massachusetts Rental Voucher Program (MRVP)

A state‐funded rental assistance program begun in November1992, as a revised version of the state’s previous rental assistance program (Chapter 707). It has both a project‐based component and a tenant‐ based component.

 

Mixed Income Housing Development

Development that includes housing affordable to various income levels.  

 

Mixed Use Development

Projects that combine different types of development such as residential, commercial, office, industrial and institutional into one project.  

 

Multi-family 

A multi-family is defined as a building with three or more residential dwelling units, or two or more buildings on the same lot with more than one residential dwelling unit in each building.

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Neighborhood Revitalization Strategy Area (NRSA)

Communities with HUD‐approved NRSAs are offereenhanced flexibility in undertaking economic development, housing and public service activities with their CDBG funds. This flexibility is designed to promote innovative programs in economically disadvantaged areas of the community. www.hud.gov

 

New England Fund (NEF)

An affordable housing program run by the Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston (FHLBB) NEF provides loans to member financial institutions to finance affordable housing.  NEF is a widely used program for the development of mixed income housing under the Ch. 40B Comprehensive Permit.

 

OneMortgage Program (formerly Soft Second Program)

The State’s first time homebuyer mortgage program operated by the Massachusetts Housing Partnership.  ONE Mortgage features low, fixed‐rate financing and as state‐backed reserve that relieves homebuyers from the cost of private mortgage insurance.  Eligible buyers obtain a bank mortgage from participating banks.   www.mhp.net/homeownership

 

OneStop Application

A detailed application for public funding sources submitted to DHCD by affordable housing developers. This comprehensive funding application ensures that funders are reviewing the same information and have complete financial information for a development project. Most public financing for affordable housing is obtained through DHCD which holds public funding rounds once or twice a year.  

 

Regional Planning Agencies (RPA)

There are twelve Massachusetts regional planning agencies.   They are public, multi-jurisdictional organizations that serve local governments and citizens by managing issues that cross city, town, and county boundaries. They act as forums for state and local officials to coordinate on, plan for, and provide technical assistance for matters of regional importance, such as infrastructure, economic development, and environmental sustainability. 

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Section 8

A HUD program (officially called the Housing Choice Voucher Program) providing funding for rental assistance to low‐income households.    

 

Single Room Occupancy (SRO)

Efficiency units which may or may not include separate bathroom or kitchen facilities.

 

Smart Growth

An approach to planning and development that promote a more efficient use of land to reduce sprawl using compact development patterns that are less dependent on the automobile and include a range of housing options and improve the balance of jobs and housing within the community or the region.

 

Subsidy

Typically refers to financial assistance that fills the gap between the cost of affordable housing development/operations and the mortgage or sales income supported by income restricted rentals or homeownership sales.  Affordable rents and home sales prices are determined by financing program eligibility requirements.  Often, multiple subsidies from various sources are needed, referred to as the “layering” of subsidies, in order to make a project feasible.  

 

Transit Oriented Development (TOD)

Mixed‐use higher density development centered on existing or new transportation facilities including bus, rail, bicycle and pedestrian pathways.   

 

Transitional Housing

A short-term housing option for families or individuals that do not have permanent housing but benefit from more stability than that of an emergency shelter.

 

Universal Design

Building design that creates accessible and usable space for everyone, including people with disabilities.

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