Inclusionary Zoning

IZ was first established in 2000 as the Inclusionary Development Policy (IDP) and the commercial Linkage Policy. These policies were updated in 2023 and key changes went into effect in October 2024. IZ requires market-rate housing developments with seven or more units to support the creation of income-restricted housing.

The recent changes include:

• Lowering the threshold to trigger the policy from ten (10) to seven (7) units, 
• Increasing the proportion of the project that is income-restricted from 13 percent to 17-20 percent (depending upon the size of the building and affordability of income-restricted units),
• Adding three percent (3%) of units as set-aside for households with mobile housing vouchers in large rental projects, and,
• Deepening affordability requirements from 70% of Area Median Income (AMI) to an average of 50% or 60% of AMI (depending on the number of IZ units).

In some cases, developers may contribute to the Inclusionary Development Policy Fund in lieu of building income-restricted units. These funds are used by the City of Boston Mayors’ Office of Housing (MOH) to fund the creation of affordable/income-restricted housing across Boston.

IZ is implemented by the Mayor’s Office of Housing as part of the development review process conducted by the Planning Department. You can contact Andy Feldman, Housing Policy Manager, with any questions.

Compliance with IZ for buildings that have been completed is managed by the Housing Compliance and Asset Management (HCAM) division of MOH. You can contact Michelle McCarthy, Director, with any questions.

Below you can find a number of resources with more information about IZ.