Last updated: 12/16/24

Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) Zoning

Under Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) Zoning review, residential projects or mixed-use projects with residential components undergoing Large Project Review and/or Planned Development Area Review under Article 80 with the Planning Department are required to consider impacts on area residents historically discriminated against so that steps can be taken to reduce those impacts, provide new housing opportunities, and address past histories of exclusion.

As part of this process, developers are required to submit an AFFH Assessment Tool, guided by a displacement analysis and historical exclusion data provided by MOH, and select from a list of intervention options. Developers’ submissions are then reviewed by the Boston Interagency Fair Housing Development Committee (BIFDC), an interagency committee composed of representatives of various City departments involved with housing, which meets regularly to discuss new projects and make recommendations to developers that further the goals of fair housing.

The BIFDC is composed of representatives from the following agencies:

Planning Department: Reuben Kantor, Senior Policy Advisor
Mayor’s Office of Housing: Kyle Robidoux, Assistant Director, Office of Housing Stability
Boston Housing Authority: Taylor Cain, Chief of Staff
Commission for Persons with Disabilities: Sarah Leung, Senior Architectural Access Specialist
Office of Fair Housing and Equity: Joyce Rivera-González, Public Policy and Special Projects Manager