Attorney General Andrea Campbell’s office is creating a new division, dubbed the Housing Affordability Unit.

The unit will monitor and enforce affordable housing laws. One of the laws that the unit will focus on is the Affordable Housing Law (Chapter 40B). Passed in 1969, the law provides relief from exclusionary zoning practices that prevented the construction of low- and moderate-income housing, particularly in suburban municipalities. Under (Chapter 40B), at least 10% of every Massachusetts's community's housing stock must be affordable for moderate income households.

The new unit will also get involved in local land use disputes that have historically held up development in cities and towns across the state and explore underutilized fair housing laws designed to prevent municipalities from making discriminatory housing decisions.