Gov. Maura Healey is looking to double down on affordable housing in Massachusetts in the second year of her administration, including by pushing the Legislature to pass a pending $4 billion housing bond bill she already filed.

In an interview with the Herald Wednesday afternoon, Healey said housing is the greatest challenge facing the state, and part of the solution could lie in boosting production and rehabbing existing units. Healey filed the massive housing bond in October, pitching it as the largest investment in state history.

“We need housing because I don’t want to see people leave this state. This is a great, great state, a great state to raise a family to grow a business,” Healey told the Herald. “I want people who come to school here, staying here. I want businesses incubating here and growing here, right. I want businesses expanding here. And I want people who grew up here to be able to afford to stay here.”

Healey’s bill directs $1.8 billion to housing production and preservation, including $425 million for a housing stabilization and investment fund, $175 million for municipal infrastructure projects that encourage dense developments, and $100 million to incentivize the construction of affordable homes, among other things.

It would also grant cities and towns the option of imposing a real estate transaction fee of between 0.5% to 2% on the portion of a property sale over $1 million, or the county median home sale price. The revenue generated from the fee would head to affordable housing.

Some like the Greater Boston Real Estate Board have expressed “deep concern” with a “sales tax on real estate.”

“It’s an unstable source of revenue that would cause more harm than good at a time when people and businesses are leaving the state because it is just too expensive,” the organization’s CEO, Greg Vasil, said in a statement when the bill was released.

The idea has been pushed at the state level and backed by leaders of multiple communities, including Mayor Michelle Wu, who testified at the State House in favor of the matter only days before Healey released her housing bond bill.

Accessory dwelling units are another key way to create more units, Healey said. The bond bill would allow accessory dwelling units less than 900 square feet “as of right” throughout the state with the ability for communities to set some restrictions.

Healey said many states across the country already allow accessory dwelling units.

“This is where you see the greatest growth overnight in housing units because you can create a housing unit on your existing property or you can refashion a garage,” she said. “That’s the quickest way to generate additional housing.”

The bill was referred to the Legislature’s Housing Committee — chaired by Sen. Lydia Edwards and Rep. James Arciero — in October, where it has not moved since nor had a hearing.

A push for the $4 billion housing bond bill comes as Massachusetts starts to face revenue headwinds. Tax collections during the first five months of fiscal year 2024 have come in 4.3% lower than expected, according to state data released earlier this month.

But the alarm bells are not yet ringing for Healey as her administration also dives into the fiscal year 2025 budget process. The drop in revenues is “something that we continue to monitor, and it’s going to be something that we will have to continue to manage,” she said.

Healey said the state has “great bond rating” and more than enough funds in the rainy day account.

“Our foundation is really strong here in the state,” she said. “It seems that we’re going into a time where we’re gonna be seeing less revenue than we saw the last few years. And these things are cyclical. Obviously, what’s happening with inflation is tough and challenging for a lot of folks, but we’re just gonna have to manage it.”