Want people to ride the T? Make sure they can find a place to live near a station.

If there’s T service in your town — subway, commuter rail, bus, anything — it’ll bring more than just passengers in 2023.

Across Greater Boston, communities with MBTA service are grappling with a new mandate from the state that requires them to allow more residential development around stations.

The law, signed by former governor Charlie Baker in 2021, aimed to accomplish several key long-term goals for the Commonwealth: building more housing to address the state’s soaring costs while steering developments to places with mass transit options to minimize the environmental impact.

Transit-oriented development could also be good for the T itself, even promoting a virtuous cycle as more riders from newly built housing in turn build the case for more and better service.

But how to comply with the law — known as Housing Choice — promises to be a major source of controversy in town meetings, city council chambers, and local listservs.

In fact, it already is. A handful of municipalities are even trying to overturn or ignore the law, despite warnings that doing so invites a civil rights challenge. Massachusetts towns have traditionally been averse to allowing housing, especially dense, lower-cost multifamily housing that might affect the, ahem, character of their communities.

But from Canton to Ipswich, Newton to Marlborough, most communities are complying with the law, which has had the effect of prompting long-overdue discussions about how communities can be more constructive participants in the Commonwealth’s housing and transportation future.

The program’s requirements are complex: Municipalities have to set aside an area of “reasonable size” where denser housing is allowed and make it possible to build a determined number of housing units. Requirements also vary depending on the type of service the T provides there.

If opponents of the law hoped Baker’s departure might take some of the pressure off municipalities, they appear to be in for disappointment. In Maura Healey’s inaugural address last week, she not only specifically called for “more housing next to transit hubs,” but hinted at going even further by “taking another look at zoning.” That makes sense: As public policy challenges, housing and transportation are joined at the hip. If the state wants people to use public transportation, it needs safe and reliable service. But it also needs to make sure commuters can find a place to live where driving isn’t the only practical choice.

Alan Wirzbicki is Globe deputy editor for editorials. He can be reached at alan.wirzbicki@globe.com.