Massachusetts housing and economic officials say that a lack of affordable housing poses a crisis that threatens to accelerate the flow of jobs and residents to other states, as well as a collapse in housing prices.

But legislation passed two years ago providing incentives under the Smart Growth Zoning and Housing Production Act is slowly gaining momentum as a tool for towns to add affordable housing stock.

The provisions of Chapter 40R, passed by the state Legislature in July 2004, allow communities to create zoning overlay districts for mixed use and higher residential density than existing zoning. The provision also gives communities one-time incentive payments from the state for creating the zoning, incentive payments up to $600,000 and a one-time bonus payment of $3,000 per unit.

Smart-growth zoning is generally targeted at downtown areas and those in close proximity to public transportation.

A related piece of legislation, Chapter 40S, provides state funds to make up for added school costs related to smart-growth development.

On Tuesday, Lunenburg town meeting voters approved the creation of an overlay district for the proposed Tri-Town Landing, to be built on the 8.7 acres on Youngs Road, currently the site of a drive-in theater. The state will review the town meeting article for ratification within 45 days before the developer, Massachusetts Housing Opportunity Corp. of North Andover, works with the town planning board for its permits.

“There’s a lot of advantages to it,” said Marion M. Benson, Lunenburg planning director. “It increases the range of affordable housing. It utilizes compact design, and you plan attractive communities.”

Tri-Town Landing will have 204 apartments, all of which will be classified as affordable, or within the means of those earning less than 80 percent of the median income. Construction could begin next spring, with the first units occupied the following year.

“The community has much more of a relationship with this,” Ms. Benson said. “It’s located specifically on a site that is appropriate. It gives incentives. The town will get almost a million dollars from the state. It makes it more cost-effective. It includes the community as a stakeholder.”

Advocates of 40R say it is preferable to Chapter 40B housing, also known as comprehensive permit projects. The Chapter 40B law, enacted 37 years ago, allows developers to skirt local zoning bylaws if 25 percent of the project is designated as affordable.

Developers can file 40B projects in communities that have not met the statewide goal of having 10 percent of its housing stock deemed affordable.

Developments characterized as affordable often draw opposition from neighbors who fear their property values will go down, or that the development will attract welfare or subsidized tenants. Chapter 40B proposals are viewed with skepticism, if not hostility, because of the affordable component, as well as the fact that local government has little control over what gets built.

Michael Ivas, executive vice president of Massachusetts Housing Opportunity Corp., said his company worked with the town on the project, and that it could supplant 40B as the vehicle to build affordable housing.

“The advantages are clear,” he said, looking over the Tri-town plans in a model unit at Chocksett Crossing, a 45-unit condominium project his company is building under Chapter 40B in Sterling.

“Our company has done a number of 40Bs. One of the biggest advantages is that it gives control back to the communities. That’s what people are frustrated about. Local boards are outside the loop (with 40B). It’s (40R) basically going back through the normal processes. It puts control back into town hands, where it belongs. There’s a great incentive for towns to create overlay zoning. Smart growth is the way to go in blighted areas or places with (public) transportation.”

He pointed out that Tri-Town Landing is near a public bus line and a short distance to two commuter-rail stations and shopping. Both 40B and 40R provide needed affordable housing for the state, which is 47th in the nation, per capita, in annual building permits.

Massachusetts also uses, on average, more land per dwelling — 0.9 acres — than any other state. Large-lot zoning does not preserve open space, but instead encourages sprawl, housing officials contend.

“There are no towns in the commonwealth that have apartments by right,” Mr. Ivas said. “We scream about our children not being able to afford to live there. We’re doing it to ourselves. When you have zoning that requires 2-acre lots, it means sprawl. There is no such thing as a starter home anymore.”

Restrictive zoning and permitting, along with “not-in-my-backyard” opposition, keep affordable housing at a premium, housing advocates and developers say. High housing costs are driving people, including highly paid professionals, to areas of the country where housing is more affordable, according to research by Barry Bluestone, director of the Center for Urban and Regional Policy at Northeastern University, and a co-author of 40R legislation.

He said that prior to the Lunenburg project, five 40R projects in the Eastern Massachusetts have gone through local permitting and have been accepted by state Department of Housing and Community Development. They will contribute 1,500 units of housing, with at least 20 percent, or 300, being sold as affordable units, he said.

All 204 apartment units at Tri-Town will be designated as affordable, and will not be sold as condominiums in later years, Mr. Ivas said.

“Nobody wants to be first, except a few pioneers,” Mr. Bluestone said. “I expect we’ll see more stepping forward. I’m encouraged by what I’ve seen. ... I hope it will catch fire now.”

Another 25 or so 40R projects are being proposed around the state, he said. One of those, the proposed 72-unit Moose Pond condominium project on Wilson Street in Spencer, is in the process of a public hearing before that town’s board of selectmen. The hearing resumes at the July 10 meeting, which begins at 7 p.m. The proposal calls for 20 percent, or 15 units, to be designated as affordable.

The 40R legislation came about when Mr. Bluestone’s Center for Urban and Regional Policy was approached in 2000 by Paul Guzzi, chief executive officer of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, and Cardinal Bernard Law, who asked the center to do a study of the growing housing crisis, Mr. Bluestone said.

At that time, the state had undergone five consecutive years of double-digit housing appreciation, which was pricing people out of the market, he said. The 1990s brought a buoyant economy, but with restrictive zoning and NIMBY complaints, demand was exceeding supply, resulting in below-normal vacancy rates for homes and apartments.

“It drives prices up,” he said. “We estimated that, generally, Greater Boston had to increase supply by 30,000 units over the next five years to bring the vacancy rate to normal levels.”

But further study showed that despite rising prices, the number of new housing units was decreasing, he said. The business community and housing advocates got together, and out of it came series of meetings, resulting in a request for legislation to overcome zoning obstacles to housing construction, he said.

The 40R legislation was drafted by Mr. Bluestone and Eleanor White of the Commonwealth Housing Task Force and Ted Carmen, president of Concord Square Development Co. Inc. The Chapter 40S school insurance funding portion was removed in conference committee before it was signed by Gov. Mitt Romney, but passed as separate legislation in December, he said.

Sen. Harriette L. Chandler, D-Worcester, who sponsored the 40S legislation, said it gives even more incentives for communities considering smart growth development.

“I am hoping communities will take advantage of it, as it offers incentives to build affordable housing,” she said. “They can take advantage of this, knowing that there is money involved so that educational costs are covered.”

The 40S school funding is a key component, Mr. Ivas said.

“There is a whole mantra about schoolchildren and costs,” he said, referring to the fear of overcrowding schools with new residential development. “I’ve talked with about 40 towns along (Interstate) 495, and all they talk about is school costs. They permit over-55 units, but there are more empty over-55 complexes than you can shake a stick at.

“Towns are reaping what they sow. 40-R will be the way to go. I’m very excited about it. Towns can control their own growth,” he said.

Mr. Ivas said there are not enough buyers for homes on the market costing $500,000 and up. He said there are areas in Central Massachusetts with $1 million homes.

“Mass. General Hospital can’t recruit physicians because of the price of housing,” he said. “People in their 40s and 50s grew up with a range of housing, apartments, triple-deckers. If you think the problem of affordable housing will be solved with what’s here, it won’t. There’ll be a housing crash.”

He cited studies that show that affordable housing projects do not lower the values of nearby residences, and took issue with the NIMBY characterization of affordable-housing buyers as undesirable.

“These are not people who collect bottles and cans outside the public library,” Mr. Ivas said. “These are people who make $45,000 to $55,000 a year. We don’t even call it ‘affordable,’ we call it ‘median income’ housing.

“Older people in the community get it. They’re involved. They know towns are like organisms; they grow or die. It’s the newcomers who arrive and want to pull the drawbridge closed. They don’t want to see anything built,” he said.

Mr. Ivas warned that 40R is not for everyone, as it involves a complicated process to meet the state’s smart-growth criteria. But other communities and developers are watching the first ones to see what happens, he said.

“These are getting a lot of attention,” he said. “The state is interested in making this work outside of Route 495. They know that if it’s going to work, they’re going to have to step up to the plate.”

Mr. Bluestone said the effort that went into 40R and 40S can be used on other issues.

“This is a good model for getting good legislation through,” he said. “Use universities to get research done. Build a solid coalition around it. Get disinterested parties together. You then use that capability to formulate a legislative solution to the problem.

“Use the coalition to fight hard to make sure it gets legislative support for it. I think it can be used for other issues: health care costs, funding early childhood education,” he said.

Contact business reporter Martin Luttrell by e-mail at mluttrell@telegram.com.