Ed Augustus, the state secretary of the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities and the state’s first housing secretary in more than three decades, met with area housing advocates Thursday for a discussion at Holliston Town Hall to share information about state housing policy updates.

The hour-long hybrid forum was hosted by state Rep. James Arena-DeRosa, whose district includes Hopkinton, Holliston, Millis and Sherborn. He encouraged collaboration among all levels of government to solve the urgent need for housing in Massachusetts at all income levels.

The hybrid meeting drew several housing advocates and officials from across the district, including former Hopkinton Select Board chair Muriel Kramer and Hopkinton Housing Authority chair Nancy “Punky” Drawe.

“I don’t have to tell anybody in this room how important housing is,” said Arena-DeRosa. “We’re in a crisis, both in terms of affordability and also just in terms of having enough housing in general.”

The legislator noted that the housing complaints he hears from constituents range from young professionals hoping to buy homes to older residents wanting to downsize but have no options in the town where they have devoted their lives.

“When we talk about development, we often hear, ‘We need to preserve the character of our community,’ ” Arena-DeRosa observed. “That can be a consideration, but it can’t be the only consideration.

“I submit, when we think about our character and who we are as a community, it’s also who we are as a people,” he continued. “And if the people who protect us and serve us and teach our kids can’t afford to live in these towns, that is also going to affect our character.”

Augustus described Arena-DeRosa as “very much engaged in all things housing.”

Augustus said that public housing creation and maintenance is a priority of Gov. Maura Healey’s administration. Also of critical importance, he said, was the passage by cities and towns of the MBTA Communities Act and the housing of migrants and unhoused residents.

He noted that the fastest-growing demographic of unhoused persons is older residents who cannot afford to stay in their homes nor find places where they can downsize. Relaxing the rules on accessory dwelling units (ADUs) may help alleviate this problem while allowing older residents to remain close to their families and their communities.

Augustus said the governor is asking for a $4.1 billion bond bill to address affordable housing needs, 2.5 times larger than the previous bond bill five years ago. It is the largest bond bill request in state history for housing.

There also are 28 policy subsections attached to that bond bill that provide “a lot of tweaks to public housing,” according to Augustus. He said this would give local housing authorities “more flexibility.”

He also noted that the MetroWest area only has a 1% vacancy rate for housing, compared with 1.6% for Massachusetts, the state with the lowest vacancy rate in the country.

Augustus called approval by cities and towns of plans to conform with the MBTA Communities Act will “remove some of those historic barriers to housing production.”

Hopkinton Town Meeting earlier this month narrowly defeated a proposal to comply with this law in a 118-126 vote. The town has until the end of the year to pass and submit a new proposal to the state. The town is expected to revisit the issue in a Special Town Meeting in the fall.

Said Arena-DeRosa: “I think there was some misinformation out there. We weren’t going to seize parts of the town.”

So far, Augustus said 85% of the 177 communities affected by the MBTA Communities Act have complied. Arena-DeRosa noted that the law does not require affordable housing units.

Kramer noted that Hopkinton residents are “better informed” about the law now.

She added that the town was challenged by the passage of funding for the new Charleswood School building as well as for the Hopkins School addition, which elevated financial concerns of residents.

Said Kramer: “There has to be some kind of conversation where towns like Hopkinton can envision this and balance the competing needs that we have.”

Drawe said Arena-DeRosa has been very responsive about seniors who did not want to leave Hopkinton and preferred to get into the Hopkinton Housing Authority.

“It’s an important thing for people to be with their friends,” she said. “There have been people moving in now who have not had to leave town and be with a bunch of strangers they didn’t know. This is how it was years and years ago.”

Hayley Fetrow, the executive director of the Hopkinton Housing Authority, spoke about how modifications to the Common Housing Application for Massachusetts Programs (CHAMP) are allowing local people and veterans in particular to find housing opportunities close to where they currently live.

She said in Hopkinton, there were 532 applicants for housing as of September 2023 before one veteran was found on the list. A local resident was “in the 600s” on the wait list.

Fetrow, who also oversees the Medway and Blackstone housing authorities, said a shift in the priority screening policy has allowed nine of 10 available units in Hopkinton to be offered to veterans and Hopkinton residents since last October.

The biggest challenge Fetrow observed with CHAMP is that people may apply to hundreds of local housing authorities and may appear at the top of several lists when units open. Arena-DeRosa suggested narrowing the number of places to which people can apply to 10 or 20.

There are about 43,000 state-owned public housing units in the state, with more than 70,000 applicants, according to Augustus.

Kramer said that as a social worker, she helped many unhoused people fill out housing applications. She asked for “some flexibility” to ensure that people can be placed in housing outside their application choices if the community is close to where they are, particularly if “they are at the risk of homelessness.”

Augustus said some state programs do offer assistance on rental payments for those at risk of homelessness.

After the forum, Arena-DeRosa told the Independent that he hoped all of his communities would be in compliance with the MBTA Communities Act by Dec. 31.

He added that he will file legislation in the upcoming legislative session calling for all MBTA adjacent communities such as Hopkinton to have paratransit service.