N early 40 years ago, the Massachusetts legislature responded to the state's affordable housing shortage by enacting legislation (Chapter 40b) requiring communities to meet an affordability benchmark-10 percent of their housing stock must be "affordable" to moderate-income residents. Communities that fall below that standard must waive local zoning and planning requirements that bar the construction of multifamily developments, if a specified percentage of the units (usually 25 percent) are affordable. Few communities met that standard in 1969 when the statute was enacted, and few meet it today. As a result, developers have used the 40b requirement consistently over the years to construct high-density housing in communities that didn't particularly want it. In fact, most of the multi-family developments, including condominiums, constructed since the statute was enacted have an affordable housing component. November 2016 29