Chris Lehman, director of the Small Property Owners Association, told the Herald on Tuesday that while the mayor's plan moves in the right direction, it falls short of what's needed to jumpstart development in a city where roughly 30,000 approved housing units remain unbuilt due to financial constraints.

"I think this is directionally a move in the right direction," Lehman said. "Inclusionary zoning policies are a pretty meaningful impediment to construction, so rolling them back slightly is a good thing on net. But I do think this is a pretty small change in the correct direction."

Wu's proposal, announced Monday, would roll back several updates her administration made to the city's inclusionary zoning policy in October 2024, when the affordability requirement increased from 13% to 20%. The changes would allow developers to pay their 50% buyout in seven annual installments rather than two lump sums, and temporarily raise the threshold at which the policy applies from developments of seven units to those of 10 units. The city estimates the threshold change would produce about 100 additional units per year.

However, Wu has kept the 20% affordability requirement in place, a decision Lehman suggested is politically motivated.

"I have to assume the administration's under a lot of pressure from various parties to keep the actual inclusionary zoning percentage as high as possible, and so it's possible that they felt that they didn't have political space to actually lower that threshold," he said.

Lehman argued that reducing the percentage itself—from 20% back to 13% or lower—would be far more effective in moving stalled large-scale projects forward.

"The change that's being proposed doesn't actually do anything to change the economics of the major residential development projects that are going to move the needle the most," he said.

The proposal comes about a month after Wu's chief of planning, Kairos Shen, said at an October 16 forum that the city would not lower its affordability requirements, remarks that angered developers. "It's hard to develop here. It should be," Shen said at the time.

Wu framed her proposal as a compromise. "This balanced approach is part of our administration's broader strategy to build more homes, remove barriers to development, and ensure Boston remains a city where residents can afford to stay and thrive," she said.

By comparison, nearby Cambridge is considering lowering its affordability requirement from 20% to 10% to spur housing production. Lehman said Boston's decision not to follow suit appears political.

"It does seem that if they were listening to the people who are actually the most involved in these development projects, they would have made the other change," he said.