The Massachusetts State Senate and House of Representatives passed the Affordable Homes Act late Wednesday night, a $5.16-billion plan authorizing historic investments in the state’s housing stock, including the legalization of Accessory Dwelling Units by right.

The bill now heads to Governor Maura Healey’s desk, where she will no doubt sign it into law in the coming days.

Interestingly, the legislation wound its way through the process minus the local outcry and uprising that arose in opposition to a more limited ADU ordinance proposed in the City of Lowell just last year.

The Massachusetts Bill not only establishes ADU’s “by right,” but does so in every single-family zoned district across the Commonwealth, caps parking mandates at one spot per unit for ADU’s further than half a mile from public transit, and bans owner occupancy requirements.

Advocacy groups hail it as the strongest ADU law in New England and estimate it will create 8,000-10,000 ADU’s over the next five years.

In retrospect, the local battle that is believed to have had significant impact on the 2023 municipal election, was all for naught. This bill would have overridden the restrictions City Councilors attempted to place on the number and types of ADU’s permissible within city limits.

Still, it is notable that the public outcry from the 2023 debate locally didn’t materialize when higher ups at the state tackled the issue. You’ll recall neighborhood opposition last Fall resulted in three City Councilors changing their vote, leading the ADU ordinance to fail by a 7-4 vote, when all along it had the support of seven councilors.

16th Middlesex Representative Rodney Elliott did attempt to add an amendment to the law, allowing for more local control, however that amendment failed.

Senator Ed Kennedy filed an amendment seeking an owner occupancy requirement. That, too, failed.