Rep. Brian Chino asks Ways & Means for JFO/Taxes report on tax tools to preserve affordable housing

Representative Brian Chino of Burlington urged the Ways & Means Committee to ask the Joint Fiscal Office (JFO) and the Department of Taxes to produce a report evaluating tax incentives and penalties aimed at preserving affordable rental housing and encouraging tenant homeownership, saying the proposal is drafted as section 5 of H.445.

Chino told the committee the report should analyze definitions and measurements of affordability, including the JFO basic needs budget, examine factors that drive rent from an owner’s perspective, model incentives and penalties, consider a tenant right of first refusal on sales, and project fiscal impacts to state revenues.

Chino framed the proposal as a diagnostic step rather than an immediate policy change. “I think we should get a report that gives you the numbers, and then you can look at that and then recommend to the rest of the body,” he said. He emphasized the approach would not impose a rent cap: “Were not creating a cap. Were not its not rent control. Its not strict rent control.”

The report elements Chino outlined included: defining affordability measures (he cited the 2024 basic needs budget, noting JFO figures that list monthly housing cost estimates of $1,476 in an urban area and $1,046 in a rural area for a single person); assessing owners27 expenses and revenue; identifying existing benefits and possible additional tax incentives to encourage lower rents; modeling tax penalties for excessive rents and their deterrent effects; evaluating incentives tied to tenant purchase or a right of first refusal when owners sell; and projecting the fiscal impact of any incentives or penalties on state revenue.

Chino said one purpose of incentives would be to make sales to occupants financially attractive compared with putting properties on the open market, where larger investors can drive up prices. He described a personal example: he said he lived in a two-unit building in Burlingtons Old North End since 1999, that the owner offered to sell at reduced cost rather than list on the open market, and that he obtained a mortgage in 2015 and subsequently rented the other unit at a below-market rate.

Representative Maslin cautioned the committee that the mechanism Chino proposed could be complex. Quoting another legislator, Maslin said the approach may have “too many knobs to turn,” and warned that intricate mechanisms can fail in legislation. The committee chair asked Chino who should conduct the work; Chino recommended JFO working with the Department of Taxes, saying he had spoken with a Department of Taxes staffer who agreed they could assist with numbers but suggested JFO could be the primary analyst.

No motion or formal vote occurred during the presentation. Committee members said the proposal could be considered again in the context of related legislation they expect to receive from the Commerce Committee (identified in the discussion as S.127) and in connection with an upcoming TIF-related bill. Chino acknowledged the fiscal trade-offs and said the report would help identify which policy "knobs" the Legislature might adjust.

The committee did not set a timeline or vote to request the report during this session. The presentation concluded with no formal action recorded.