Council hearing: Mayor’s Office of Housing proposes $49.2M operating budget amid cuts to grant lines and contracted services

The Boston City Council Committee on Ways and Means heard a presentation April 27 on the Mayor’s Office of Housing’s recommended FY27 operating budget, which Director of Administration and Finance Rick Wilson said totals $49.2 million.

Wilson told the committee the recommended budget directs the largest single line—$11.85 million—to the City voucher program and includes about $10 million for homebuyer and homeowner assistance, $9.3 million for homelessness supports and $7 million for affordable housing development. Wilson said external grants, principally from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, provide substantial additional funding—about $77 million annually across HUD and other federal grants.

Sheila Dillon, chief of housing and director of the Mayor’s Office of Housing, opened with an overview of FY26 accomplishments and FY27 goals, including permitting and preserving income-restricted units (the office described permitting 800 income-restricted units in FY26 and having helped preserve roughly 1,400 units since the Acquisitions Opportunity Program launch) and plans to permit 1,000 new affordable units in FY27. Dillon said the office is on track to place over 780 people experiencing homelessness into permanent housing in FY26 and emphasized partnerships with nonprofit providers.

Councilors focused questioning on the scale and causes of the proposed reductions. Wilson said the FY27 recommendation represents roughly a $5 million, or about a 9.6 percent, reduction in the operating budget from FY26. He identified the largest operating reductions as a $2.3 million decrease in the City of Boston voucher program line, removal of a $1 million Affordable Commercial Assistance Fund, a roughly $450,000 reduction to the Access to Councilor pilot program and about $400,000 in cuts to Grow Boston urban-agriculture grants. Wilson said the contracted services line is down approximately $1.3 million overall and that some programs have prior-year funding to mitigate immediate service impacts.

On federal funding risks, Wilson told councilors the office is monitoring ongoing litigation and federal policy changes affecting HUD grants, including the Continuum of Care allocations that fund much of the city’s homelessness work. He said the office had successfully preserved funding for FY27 through courts and congressional action but expects further change in later years and is coordinating with the city finance and law departments and nonprofit partners.

Councilors also pressed staff on program-level impacts and priorities. Dillon described tighter underwriting and program adjustments to stretch limited resources for homebuyer assistance; she said the Acquisition Opportunity Program (AOP), a high-priority program, currently has about $7 million available from linkage/neighborhood housing trust funds and will seek additional CPA or linkage funding to continue acquisitions. Joel Wolfe, deputy administrator at the Boston Housing Authority, described capital investments in public housing, including elevator improvements and other site projects, with an elevator project at Ruth Berkeley targeted for completion in January 2027.

On vouchers, Dillon and Wilson said the City Voucher Program supports roughly 500 households (up from about 400 in prior years) and that about 200 of those are project-based vouchers that remain tied to specific developments. Wilson said the $2.3 million reduction will not immediately reduce the number of vouchers available in FY27 because of prior-year carryforward and lease-up timing, but he acknowledged the program will require additional funding in future years if rents and demand continue to rise.

On homelessness operations, Dillon explained the city uses a coordinated entry prioritization system that focuses resources on individuals and households with the longest histories of homelessness and the greatest vulnerability; she said the office aims to house another 775 people in FY27 and that much of that work relies on Continuum of Care funding.

Councilors and panelists repeatedly framed the FY27 proposal as an exercise in prioritization—preserving core housing and homelessness programs while trimming smaller or lower-traction grant lines to help balance the city’s overall budget. Several councilors emphasized the human cost of even modest reductions and asked for follow-up materials on specific line-item impacts and leverage metrics for investments in preservation, homeownership and supportive housing.

The committee received public testimony at the hearing’s close. Multiple speakers representing Grow Boston, community gardens and urban farms urged restoring proposed cuts to Grow Boston grants and other urban-agriculture programs; at least one resident raised an urgent individual housing-voucher issue that the panel committed to follow up on directly.

The committee did not take a formal vote at the hearing. Councilors asked for supplemental materials, including detailed program breakdowns and preservation status reports, and staff promised follow-up on federal funding litigation, voucher math for future years and specific grant-line impacts.