The Healey administration is rolling out $8.7 million to Massachusetts cities and towns complying with the controversial MBTA zoning law while withholding previously committed grant funds from resistant communities.

Gov. Maura Healey has rewarded 10 municipalities following the state’s orders by enacting zoning plans compliant with the MBTA Communities Act. At the same time, her administration continues to be taken to court.

The South Shore town of Hanson announced last Monday that it had sued the Healey administration the week before. It joins Marshfield, Middleboro, Wrentham and Duxbury in filing lawsuits in Superior Court after state Auditor Diana DiZoglio determined that the 2021 law is an “unfunded mandate.”

The Hanson Select Board said it is “seeking relief from enforcement (and) the release of vital grants” that the state has frozen.

Under the act, 177 municipalities across Greater Boston must have at least one zoning district where multifamily housing is permitted as of right.

The Healey administration has said 50 cities and towns are fully compliant, while 119 have adopted plans to comply with the law. The administration stated in a release that at least 3,700 housing units are in the “development pipeline.”

Arlington, Chelsea, Grafton, Harvard, Revere, Salem and Somerville are receiving at least $1 million in MBTA Community Catalyst Funds, competitive grant awards supporting housing creation and land acquisition for new development.

“From the start, our administration has been committed to working closely with communities to not only come into compliance with the law,” Healey said in a statement on Thursday, “but to also provide resources to help them turn their plans into reality.”

“These funds will be crucial for supporting housing creation and infrastructure upgrades,” the governor added, “so that we can make housing more affordable across the state.”

Under the law’s requirements, Hanson must zone at least 50 acres near downtown for multi-family housing, with 15 units per acre and a minimum of 750 units in the district.

“Hanson voters overwhelmingly defeated an article concerning an MBTA zoning bylaw amendment, in large part due to a concern over unfunded obligations,” the Select Board said in a statement. “This increase in density would require substantial investment in municipal infrastructure, including educational services.”

The concern is also being felt in the other communities seeking a Superior Court order for exemption from compliance until the state provides funding under the auditor’s unfunded mandate determination.

DiZoglio’s Division of Local Mandates ruled in late February that the law “does not provide a funding mechanism for compliance with its provisions” and that the Legislature failed to provide an appropriation when approving it.

The determination has also pitted the auditor against Healey and Attorney General Andrea Campbell. The governor and AG have said DiZoglio’s claim is wrong and does not affect the law being implemented.

Towns fighting the law say they are waiting for information on how compliance with the mandate will impact their communities financially.

That insight has yet to come out as the state housing office has not filed a “fiscal effect” estimate and small business impact statement under a legal requirement that the state Supreme Judicial Court authorized in January.

DiZoglio has also said her office needs that information for it to conduct a fiscal analysis. The SJC ruling came in a legal fight between Campbell and the town of Milton in which the state’s highest court declared the law constitutional and enforceable.

The Hanson Select Board added that it “believes that the Commonwealth’s financial analysis is necessary for voters to make an informed decision at Town Meeting on whether to adopt an MBTA Zoning bylaw.”

The Select Board did not highlight the grants that the state has frozen.

In Marshfield, the town has lost access to a $261,600 grant that would cover the dredging of a local river and lead to “better marina access for public boat ramps, boatyards, and local bait shops.”

State Rep. Patrick Kearney, who represents several South Shore towns, has said the Healey administration is wrong in punishing resistant communities.

“Instead of withholding critical funding that would benefit the environment and improve public safety,” Kearney said in a social media post last weekend, “Governor Healey should be focusing on providing the support necessary to keep our coastal communities and their watersheds, safe.”

In Middleboro, Healey and the state housing office have rescinded a $73,000 grant for student mental health needs and are refusing to sign a $2.8 million MassWorks contract for commercial development infrastructure, town officials have said.

The governor told state lawmakers earlier this month she “cannot commit” her administration will “refrain from withholding funding” from cities and towns not complying with the law.

According to the Healey administration, the 10 municipalities receiving the $8.7 million in Community Catalyst Funds are expected to create “up to 2,332 housing units,” some of which will be affordable.

“Increasing the supply of housing helps lower costs for all residents and these grant awards give our communities a hand as they work to build the housing they need,” Housing and Livable Communities Secretary Ed Augustus said in a statement.