CA implemented "builders remedy" in cases like this (and NY is proposing it). Essentially, if a town doesn't submit a compliant housing plan, their zoning gets suspended and developers are allowed to bypass the zoning code with certain types of buildings (like buildings with a certain amount of affordable units). I'd like to see MA move that way. We have a housing crisis - emphasis on crisis. People are leaving our state and there's a real possibility that MA will be losing a House seat in the next census. People are being pushed into poverty and into homelessness. I have zero sympathy with these towns talking about "neighborhood character" next to concerns like this.