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A Central Massachusetts town is being sued for refusing to comply with a zoning law meant to increase the housing supply in communities served by the MBTA.

In a lawsuit filed Thursday against the town of Holden, the Central Massachusetts Housing Alliance, along with a low-income family and a local homeowner, said that the town’s non-compliance with the MBTA Communities Zoning Law hurts residents of Holden as well as people across the state during an ongoing housing crisis.

“We must maximize every available tool to keep Central Massachusetts families housed in their communities of choice,” said CMHA CEO Leah Bradley in a press release. “With the unprecedented surge in rent prices and homelessness in recent years, more Massachusetts families are becoming homeless and they are staying homeless longer. Communities across Central Massachusetts are working with us to find solutions to the housing crisis. We are asking the same of Holden.”

The law was adopted in 2021 and requires cities and towns served by the transit agency have at least one zoning district “of reasonable size” where multi-family housing is allowed within a half-mile of a commuter rail, subway or bus station or ferry terminal, if applicable. Noncompliant towns will be ineligible for certain state funding opportunities. While Holden does not contain any transit stations, it borders Worcester, which does, so it is still subject to the law.

The 177 communities that fell under the law were required to submit an action plan to the state in January, but Holden failed to do so. Since then, town officials have said they will not comply with the law, and instead will pass up the grant opportunities.

“In the view of those officials, MBTA Communities can simply forego the relevant state funding grants and exempt themselves from the law’s zoning provisions. Those officials are wrong,” wrote Lawyers for Civil Rights, who are representing CMHA and the other plaintiffs, in the complaint. “If Holden’s interpretation is allowed to persist, MBTA Communities will be free to preserve the anti-density status quo that has driven the housing crisis, undermining the law’s effectiveness and subjecting residents of the commonwealth to a perpetually overpriced and segregated housing landscape.”

The suit names the town, its Board of Selectmen, and Town Manager Peter Lukes as defendants.

Attorneys wrote that Holden’s non-complaince hurt CMHA by straining its resources and impairing its mission.

In addition, attorneys wrote that Holden’s actions negatively impacted Lydiana Morales, a disabled and low-income mother currently living in a shelter in Westborough, by contributing to her inability to find stable housing. Morales and her child left their Worcester apartment in October because she could not afford the rent, according to the complaint, and have been unable to find affordable rental housing. They will be forced to leave the shelter in December.

“The ordeal has caused Plaintiff Morales to experience food insecurity and delayed medical treatment, as she has often had to skip meals and postpone medical appointments to save money for rent payments,” they wrote. “She has also suffered from a lack of sleep, heightened anxiety and more frequent flare ups of her mental health symptoms.”

Jennifer Lish, a Holden homeowner, also signed on to the lawsuit, saying that she and other residents will lose out on the benefits of the law, “including state funding grant eligibility, increased housing infrastructure, a larger and more diverse population and a greater tax base.”

LCR attorneys wrote in the complaint that by not obeying the law, Holden could encourage other communities to follow suit, further delaying compliance across the state.

“This lawsuit aims to support municipalities that are working to comply with the Law, by ensuring that recalcitrant towns like Holden do not shirk their obligations,” said LCR staff attorney Jacob Love. “Every municipality covered by this Law, especially predominantly white, affluent towns like Holden, must relinquish exclusionary zoning and contribute to the cause.”

MassLive has reached out to Town Manager Lukes and Board of Selectmen Chair Stephanie Mulroy for comment.

One other town, Berkley, has not yet complied with the MBTA Communities Zoning Law. LCR said they had also sent a request to Berkley on Thursday seeking public records regarding compliance with the law.

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A lawsuit over compliance with the MBTA zoning law aims to prevent a "domino effect" of noncompliance that could worsen housing costs.

|Updated Fri, Aug 4, 2023 at 7:20 am ET

WORCESTER, MA — A lawsuit filed Thursday against Holden over its noncompliance with a new state multifamily zoning mandate will likely test the strength of the new law, and how it will shape the future of affordable housing in Massachusetts.

The Worcester-based Central Massachusetts Housing Alliance sued Holden for defying the 2021 MBTA Communities Zoning Law. The law that requires the 177 cities and towns either directly served by or adjacent to MBTA lines to create new multifamily zones if they don't already exist. Lawmakers hope the law will increase housing production as a way to relieve a shortage that's driven prices out of reach for many residents — pushing some into homelessness.

Holden is one of only two remaining MBTA communities in Massachusetts that missed a Jan. 31 deadline to submit a zoning plan to the state. Attorney General Andrea Campbell in March warned Holden the town could face lawsuits and the loss of funding for the town's housing authority for noncompliance.

The suit seeks a court ruling that all towns included in the MBTA Communities Zoning Law must comply to prevent a "domino effect" of other towns disregarding the law, the plaintiffs said.

"This dispute goes to the heart of the law. If Holden's interpretation is allowed to persist, MBTA Communities will be free to preserve the anti-density status quo that has driven the housing crisis, undermining the law's effectiveness and subjecting residents of the Commonwealth to a perpetually overpriced and segregated housing landscape," the suit says.

Find out what's happening in Worcesterwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Joining CMHA in the lawsuit are two local residents: Jennifer Lish, a Holden homeowner who fears the town will be hurt by failure to comply with the law; and Lydiana Morales, the resident of a family shelter in Westborough who can't find affordable housing in the area.

"We must maximize every available tool to keep central Massachusetts families housed in their communities of choice," CMHA CEO Leah Bradley said in a news release. "With the unprecedented surge in rent prices and homelessness in recent years, more Massachusetts families are becoming homeless, and they are staying homeless longer. Communities across central Massachusetts are working with us to find solutions to the housing crisis. We are asking the same of Holden."

After Campbell's warning in March, Lukes said the town would not be "intimidated by any threats or legal action."

Campbell noted in her guidance on the law that any town penalized for not complying would still be obligated to create new zoning.

"[The law] does not provide any mechanism by which a town or city may opt out," Campbell said.

The law does not require communities to actually build housing, only create zones for potential construction. The law is aimed at increasing the availability of housing statewide to relieve a larger housing shortage that's particularly dire adjacent to public transportation routes.

Holden, a town of nearly 20,000, is included in the law because it abuts Worcester, which has an MBTA commuter rail station. A majority of the town is zoned for single-family housing. Complying with the MBTA Communities law could bring up to 750 new multifamily units to the town, according to the nonprofit Abundant Housing Massachusetts.

The lawsuit also charges that high housing prices disproportionately harm residents of color. Zoning laws have been historically used to segregate populations, and majority-white Holden is upholding that legacy by failing to comply, the lawsuit says.

"Especially in suburban towns, restricting multifamily housing development suppresses the quantity of affordable housing and limits the opportunity for people with modest incomes to move there from segregated areas," the suit says.

Lawyers for Civil Rights and Brown Rudnick LLP are representing CMHA and the Holden resident in the lawsuit.

"The untenable position taken by the town of Holden must be unquestionably discredited to ensure timely compliance by all the covered communities," Brown Rudnick lead attorney Rebecca Lecaroz said in a news release Thursday.

Berkley, which is south of Taunton, is the only other town that still has not submitted a zoning plan to the state. Lawyers for Civil Rights has filed a public records request seeking documentation of Berkley's plan to comply with the law, according to the organization.

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HOLDEN — Town leaders want to remind drivers to slow down when driving by Mountview Middle Shcool in Holden.

A private contractor's error resulted in the word "School" being misspelled in large white letters on Shrewsbury Street, outside the middle school. It also has given town residents something to laugh about while they wait for the issue to be corrected.

“It happened a couple of weeks ago,” said Town Manager Peter Lukes. “It was a little bit annoying, but we spotted it right after it happened a couple weeks ago, so we alerted them (contractor).”

Because of the recent rain storms, the contractor, who was hired to paint lines throughout the town’s roads, has been unable to fix the typo. But, Lukes said, the contractor, K5 Corporation of Rockland, was expected to fix the error Wednesday night, free of charge.

By Thursday morning, the misspelling had been fixed.

The typo had gone mostly unnoticed, Lukes said, the last couple of weeks. It wasn’t until someone posted about it in a local Facebook group that people started to take notice.

And while it may be a minor annoyance, he said, it has also been something that the town leaders and residents of Holden have been able to have some fun with.

The town made a post on social media to let people know that the issue would be resolved. Lukes said the town wanted to make it clear that it was a contractor's error and not one made by one of the town’s crews.

In that same post, the town published a photo of Darrell Hammond’s impression of Sean Connery on "Saturday Night Live," alongside a photo of the painted misspelling.

In a second post, the town published a photoshopped image of the Mountview Middle School sign, with it including the typo spelling “Shcool” instead.

“We just wanted to get out in front of it and have some fun with it really, because mistakes happen, and instead of being sore about it, we can just have some fun with it. I think people appreciated that,” he said. “The reaction has been fun, honestly.”

Due to the positive response, the town had considered leaving the misspelling, but because of traffic laws have to make the correction.

“We considered it because of the really positive response,” Lukes said. “But it will be back to what it should be.”

Kevin Lahair, 75, who lives nearby, said he felt bad for the person who made the error, but that it was also important for people to pay closer attention when doing a job. All around, the situation was funny, he said.

"They should emphasize spelling more in schools," he said. "It made for some good laughs."

HOLDEN, Mass. - The Massachusetts Attorney General's Office said the Town of Holden must do more when it comes to allowing multifamily homes.

In 2021 former Gov. Charlie Baker implemented MBTA Community Zoning Laws for cities and towns that have access to the MBTA. Holden is one of those town. This week, the attorney general's office issued a warning: the town needs to get in compliance. Town officials do not agree.

What You Need To Know

The MBTA Community Zoning Laws require that towns with access to the MBTA allow zoning for multi-family homes. Holden’s proximity to Worcester’s commuter line stop is what makes the town have to comply.

“I think one really important aspect for everyone to know about this law is that it is a law that is mandating zoning,” said Jesse Kanson-Benanv, executive director of Abundant Housing Massachusetts. “Its only a zoning mandate, it doesn’t necessarily require production. In the case of Holden, they are required to zone for 750 new homes, it doesn’t mean that 750 homes will be built.”

Of the 177 cities and towns that fall under this law, all but four submitted action plans, although three did so after the January 31 deadline. Holden was one of the communities that didn’t submit a plan at all. Now the attorney general’s office is threatening potential lawsuits or loss of funding.

The Holden Housing Authority is managed by the Worcester Housing Authority. Chief Executive Officer Alex Corrales said that loss of funding is a very scary threat.

“We don’t have the funding now to do the things that we want to do, so any loss of funding would mean loss of service," Corrales said. "It would really be detrimental to the Holden Housing Authority.

Holden’s town manager Peter Lukes told Spectrum News 1 that they disagree with the attorney general’s interpretation of the law.

“It’s a matter of whether we have the desire or funds to mount a legal challenge,” Lukes wrote in an email.

Corrales said he understands that Holden feels like it is a local issue, but he is concerned about the possibility of loss of funding. The people who would be impacted are some of the most vulnerable in their town.

“It feels counterproductive to say that we are going to penalize you for not allowing for multifamily homes and the way we are going to penalize you is cutting the funding for the only affordable housing option in the town of Holden," Corrales said. "It does not make sense to me.”

The Holden Board of Selectmen will discuss what the next steps are for the town on Monday night at their scheduled meeting.