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The complaint names the towns of Dracut, East Bridgewater, Halifax, Holden, Marblehead, Middleton, Tewksbury, Wilmington, and Winthrop as defendants.
On Thursday, Attorney General Andrea Campbell sued nine towns for being noncompliant with the MBTA Communities Act, a 2021 law that mandates towns zone for multifamily housing as of right.
The complaint, filed in Suffolk Superior court, names the towns of Dracut, East Bridgewater, Halifax, Holden, Marblehead, Middleton, Tewksbury, Wilmington, and Winthrop as defendants.
“While bringing a lawsuit is never my first choice, courts have consistently ruled that compliance with this law is mandatory, and the urgency of our housing shortage compels me to act to ensure that all MBTA Communities meet their legal responsibilities. My office remains ready to assist any town working to come into compliance with the law,” Campbell said in a news release.
The nine towns named in the lawsuit were required to comply with the law by July 14, 2025 but failed to do so. Last summer, Campbell issued an advisory to communities not yet compliant with the law that her office was prepared to bring enforcement action against them in January 2026 — five years since the law was signed.
In the complaint, Campbell seeks injunctive relief declaring that each community must create a zoning district that complies with section 3A and submit a district compliance application to the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities (EOHLC).
“The lawsuit is essentially the hammer,” Campbell said at a press conference on Thursday. “Our posture in the [Attorney General’s] office has always been to work with municipalities to bring them into compliance with MBTA communities law, because it is mandatory. It’s not an option.”
Middleton Town Manager Justin Sultzbach told Boston.com the attorney general’s suit against noncompliant towns “makes it that much more difficult for us to win hearts and minds relative to this issue.”
“The town of Middleton is sensitive to the housing challenges in the Commonwealth and equally concerned about affordability issues within our own borders as well, and has been actively working to put forth action that will result in actual, true relief and change to improve affordability issues in Middleton, rather than performative acts such as this law, which to date, have accomplished very little in accomplishing that goal,” he added.
Three more towns are also noncompliant with the law, as of Jan. 23, 2026, but were not named in the complaint: Carver, Reheboth, and Freetown.
When asked why the three towns were not included in the suit, Attorney General Campbell told Boston.com her office is “being flexible with them because of their timing and deadlines.”
Carver and Reheboth had Dec. 31, 2025 compliance deadlines, while Freetown had a July 14, 2025 deadline. Freetown is holding a zoning meeting on Feb. 2, Campbell said.
“We want to give them a little bit more time to create a compliance zoning district, and so we’ll continue to work with them,” she said. “We want to be reasonable, given the posture that they look like they will come into compliance.”
Of the 177 communities under the law, 165 — about 93% — have already complied or are on track to comply.
Read Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell’s lawsuit against the nine noncompliant MBTA Communities:
MBTA Communities Act complaint by John Waller
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