By Glen Johnson / Associated Press

Seeking to answer employers and residents concerned about high housing costs, Governor Deval Patrick unveiled yesterday a $1.1 billion bond bill aimed at making housing more affordable in Massachusetts.

The bill, described as the largest affordable housing bill in state history, includes $500 million to update state-owned public housing developments.

Another $200 million would support the state's Affordable Housing Trust Fund, established to create and preserve housing for families whose incomes do not exceed 110 percent of the state's median income. Another $175 million would go to the Housing Stabilization Fund, which supports the acquisition, preservation, and rehabilitation of affordable housing, including foreclosed and distressed properties.

And $55 million would fund Community Development Action Grants.

Patrick said the overall effort would generate 4,000 construction jobs across the state during the next five years.

"This is an ambitious strategy to meet a crucial need, and it better be ambitious, because we have profound challenges in this area all over the Commonwealth," the governor told a crowd at Allston-Brighton Community Development Corp.

"A strong supply of workforce housing, in every region of the commonwealth, is essential to our continued economic growth and our quality of life," Patrick said. "In the fierce international competition for jobs and economic growth, our ability to offer workers convenient and affordable housing, near transportation and near their jobs, is indispensable."

The proposal is an element of a five-year capital plan the governor unveiled in August. The governor has also suggested bond bills to promote higher education, life science development, and rail transportation in Southeastern Massachusetts. That has created some wariness among lawmakers.

"We agree with the need to do something and we'll look at the details once it's filed," said David Guarino, spokesman for House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi.

Michael Widmer, president of the business-backed Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, said that bond authorizations such as the bill being filed by Patrick do not necessarily mean the state will spend all the money authorized. The state has a $1.5 billion cap on bonding, which should keep spending under control.

"The bonding authority is the means to get housing into the queue,Widmer said.

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