BOSTON — Boston's Planning Department has recommended giving developers more time to make affordable housing payments and holding commercial linkage fees flat for 2027, and six development projects that would create 657 homes in Boston were approved, the city said Friday.

Under the proposed inclusionary zoning changes, developers would pay their affordable housing obligations in seven installments instead of two. The fee condominium developers can pay instead of building income-restricted units would drop from 75% to 50% of the difference between market-rate and income-restricted unit values. The threshold for projects covered by the rules would rise from seven units to 10. The 0.5-mile limit on where required off-site units can be built would become city housing policy rather than zoning, which the department said would allow those units across a wider area.

Department staff cited economic headwinds facing housing developers. They said the changes would help some residential projects move forward while raising revenue for city-supported affordable housing. The proposal goes to the Boston City Council and needs final approval from the Zoning Commission.

Linkage fees, paid by developers of large commercial and institutional projects, are $30.78 per square foot for lab space and $23.09 for other commercial uses. The fees would otherwise rise 4% in January under an automatic inflation adjustment. The department said high construction costs, high interest rates and uncertainty over the country's fiscal and trade policies justified skipping the increase and extending payments to seven installments. That change needs Zoning Commission approval.

The largest approved project would convert 11 stories of an office building at 140 Providence Street in the Back Bay into 476 homes, 95 of them income-restricted. The city said it would be the biggest conversion in Mayor Michelle Wu's Office-to-Residential Conversion Program since the program began in 2023.

The other projects include 40 income-restricted homes at 329 Blue Hill Ave. in Roxbury, with 30% of units given a preference for formerly homeless people; 41 income-restricted homes and offices for the Codman Square Neighborhood Development Corp. in Dorchester; 15 homes in a Leather District office conversion; 57 homes in Mattapan; and 28 homes in East Boston. In all, the projects include 187 income-restricted homes and would support about 744 construction jobs, the city said.

The department also plans to seek proposals for a new operator of Shipyard Park in the Charlestown Navy Yard, where the current operator's license expires in February.

The Signal reported Tuesday that Wu had proposed the inclusionary zoning and linkage changes, with the city saying high interest rates, rising construction costs and shifting demand for commercial space had slowed building. "In the face of continued economic headwinds exacerbated by federal actions, we are making targeted adjustments to help more projects move forward and create more affordability," Wu said in a statement at the time.

Earlier coverage: Boston proposes easing affordable housing payments and fees to help stalled development

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