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Council hearing flags federal funding risks and local trade-offs for Boston housing budget
Summary
At a March 5 Ways and Means hearing, Boston housing officials told councilors that federal HUD uncertainty and the end of one-time pandemic funds will squeeze FY27 housing programs. Councilors pressed for options including a temporary rollback of inclusionary requirements and new local revenue tools to sustain production and homelessness services.
On March 5, 2026, the Boston City Council Committee on Ways and Means heard from the mayor’s housing team that federal grant risk and the depletion of pandemic-era dollars are likely to tighten local housing resources in fiscal year 2027. Committee Chair Ben Weber convened the session and said the hearing would focus on housing and immigration ahead of a broader CFO briefing set for March 23.
Sheila Dillon, chief of the Mayor’s Office of Housing, opened with a progress report and said the city has advanced thousands of units and housed large numbers of households in recent years. “Over the last two years we’ve completed or have under construction roughly 6,200 new income‑restricted units,” Dillon said, and she added that across four years the city has placed about 7,800 homeless households into permanent housing and created nearly 400 new permanent supportive units.
Why it matters: city leaders…
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