Milton residents can weigh in on the town's next five-year housing plan at a public forum Wednesday, Sept. 23, at 6 p.m.

The Housing Production Plan Advisory Committee will host the session at 515 Canton Ave., the Old Fire Headquarters first-floor meeting room, according to an announcement on Milton Scene. Residents can attend in person, watch live on Milton Access TV or join by Zoom. The Zoom link and additional details are available at miltonma.gov/1313.

The committee, formed in May 2026, is working with housing consultant Karen Sunnarborg to draft the plan. Committee members include Winston Daley, Megan Nolan, Sean Fahy and Cheryl Tougias, according to a Milton Chamber of Commerce post promoting the event.

The housing production plan will set a five-year agenda of town-led initiatives aimed at local housing needs. Under state law known as Chapter 40B, communities where less than 10% of housing units qualify as affordable on the state's Subsidized Housing Inventory (SHI) are vulnerable to developers who can bypass local zoning through comprehensive permits. Milton, with 9,844 housing units according to the most recent Census data on the town's MBTA Communities page, remains below that 10% threshold.

Five 40B developments totaling 322 rental units are already under construction or permitted in Milton, according to the town's development projects page. They include 90 units at 711 Randolph Ave., 92 at the Residences at East Milton on Franklin Street, 40 at 728 Randolph Ave., 84 at 582 Blue Hill Ave. and 16 at 16 Amor Road. Combined, those projects include 81 affordable units.

The forum comes days after the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court on Friday, Sept. 18, unanimously upheld the MBTA Communities housing law for a second time, rejecting a challenge from the town of Marshfield. Commonwealth Beacon reported that the ruling effectively closes the door on legal challenges to the law's constitutionality. Milton's own compliance saga began when a February 2024 town-wide referendum invalidated a Town Meeting vote that would have met the state's deadline.

Jake Love, general counsel for policy at the Citizens' Housing & Planning Association, told Commonwealth Beacon after the ruling that "zoning has for many years been left exclusively to the domain of municipalities and has resulted in Massachusetts just not producing enough homes."

Separately, the Milton Planning Board voted unanimously on Aug. 27 to send an amended affordable-housing bylaw to fall Town Meeting. The bylaw would require developments of eight or more units to include 15% affordable housing for households earning up to 80% of area median income. The Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) conducted the economic feasibility analysis, and town attorney Karolyn Murray and KP Law vetted the language, the Milton Times reported.

Residents who cannot attend in person can follow along on Milton Access TV or Zoom at miltonma.gov/1313.