Councilor Ed Flynn has a bold plan to increase the number of affordable housing units in the City of Boston, to follow San Francisco, and to scale back affordable-unit requirements.

Boston’s Inclusionary Development Policy (IDP) requires new developments to include at least 17% income-restricted units, with an additional 3% set aside for Section 8 voucher holders. Developers can also opt to place affordable units near the structure or pay into a fund supporting affordable housing citywide.

In mid-July, San Francisco reduced its affordable-unit requirement from 15% to 5% and fully exempted developers with fewer than 24 units. These reduced requirements will remain in place for the next three years while funding for the Housing Trust Fund, a dedicated local funding stream San Francisco uses to build, acquire, and preserve affordable housing, increases.

Flynn said that since Boston increased its IDP requirements in 2022, housing development has lagged behind other major cities, dropping from 9,800 units approved in 2020 to under 2,400 each in 2023 and 2024. 

“San Francisco faces similar challenges as Boston, where post pandemic inflation, high interest rates, increased construction costs, and tariffs have exacerbated the housing crisis and economic development,” he said. “Having the 17% plus three is impacting the ability of developers to get their project off the ground. This might be one tool. To study San Francisco and see if Boston can make similar recommendations.”

This comes following Mayor Michelle Wu offering a combined $100 million in tax breaks to developments of 100 units or larger that have not begun construction due to financial hurdles. 

The City would offer to flatten the property taxes of developers during a three-year construction window. When construction is complete, developers may opt into either limiting property tax increases by 2.5% per year for five years, or creating a decade-long tax payment schedule.

At her annual address to the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce last week, the Mayor announced the property tax abatement. Axios Boston reports that Wu stopped short of cutting IDP requirements, despite the real estate lobby’s calls to slash the minimum down to 10%. 

While Flynn did not offer any specific number, he said Boston should “learn from other progressive cities” and temporarily reduce its requirement to get housing developments into the next phase of construction.

While it is too early to say whether or not San Francisco’s cuts are worth emulating, Flynn has called for a hearing to explore whether similar changes to the IDP could address the housing crisis.