Wayland Housing Partnership maps incentive tools for affordable ADUs

WAYLAND -- February 4, 2026, Wayland Housing Partnership weighs incentives to make some new ADUs affordable. Massachusetts Housing Partnership's Dana LeWinter told the committee Feb. 4 that the state counted at least 843 ADU applications and 549 approvals in the first six months of the new by-right law, and that Wayland is now in compliance after the Attorney General struck a parking provision from its 2025 bylaw. She walked members through Wellfleet's donation-funded $10,000 deferred forgivable loan for five-year affordable units, Salem's home-rule property tax exemption for ADUs rented at 70 percent of fair-market rent, and Boston's $7,500 design grants paired with $50,000 construction loans. Contractor Windsor Mallet warned that builders are quoting roughly $400 a square foot, about $360,000 for a 900-square-foot detached unit, forcing rents near $4,000 a month. Member Jean Milburn also delivered the 212 Cochituate Road Committee's final report recommending two buildings and 8 to 12 units, with a minority opinion urging higher density.