Close
Current temperature in Boston - 62 °
BECOME A MEMBER
Get access to a personalized news feed, our newsletter and exclusive discounts on everything from shows to local restaurants, All for free.
Already a member? Sign in.
The Bay State Banner
BACK TO TOP
The Bay State Banner
POST AN AD SIGN IN

Trending Articles

Civic leaders say Wu ignoring community input

Mass. hospitals first to reach health equity standards

Banner Art Gallery roundtable hosted at MFA ‘City Talks’ draws standing room only crowd

READ PRINT EDITION

City unveils its final Imagine Boston plan

To prevent displacement, city eyes tenant legal aid and developer, landlord

Jule Pattison-Gordon
City unveils its final Imagine Boston plan
Mayor Martin Walsh unveiled the final Imagine Boston 2030 plan during a celebration in Dorchester’s Uphams Corner last week. (Photo: Courtesy City of Boston)

After two years of information-

gathering and drafting, Mayor Martin Walsh’s administration unveiled the final version of its comprehensive plan to guide citywide development — the first such plan in 50 years. Officials and attendees greeted the report’s release last Tuesday with a celebration in Dorchester’s Uphams Corner. The launch site is slated to become a future library branch, under the Imagine Boston 2030 plan. The report spotlights a host of thorny and pressing issues — among them Boston’s steep housing prices and displacement pressures.

Author: Courtesy City of BostonBetween 2010 and 2015, median housing costs rose 36 percent by citywide average, while in Roxbury they rose by 70 percent, according to the Imagine Boston report.

On the Web

Read the Imagine Boston 2030 plan: https://imagine.b…

Framing the problem

Report authors acknowledge that gaining and holding on to housing is an urgent issue. Boston’s median household incomes mirror the national median, but when it comes to housing prices, Boston is two-and-a-half times more expensive, according to Imagine Boston 2030. Overall, 21 percent of the city’s renters spend more than half their income on housing, and at any given time 40,000 residents sit on waitlists for Section 8 public housing.

As development booms, housing prices in some neighborhoods are rising faster than others. Between 2010 and 2015, median housing costs rose 36 percent citywide, according to the report. But Dorchester, Chinatown and Mattapan saw costs increasing by 38 percent, 43 percent and 50 percent. Roxbury topped the list with a whopping 70 percent price increase.

The report acknowledges that housing access and homeownership gaps fall along racial lines, and that residents engaged in the survey process called for more senior housing, mixed-income housing and deed-restricted affordable housing.

Building a way out

The Walsh administration says it remains committed to a strategy of building its way out of the housing crisis, working toward its goal to add 53,000 new units between 2014 and 2030, with housing available for a range of incomes. By January 2017, more than 12,000 of the intended 53,000 planned units had been created, with another 7,000 or so in construction.

The city expects that greater supply will slacken demand and prices eventually will drop. Report authors point to reasons for hope: In at least one neighborhood, the Fenway, a 6 percent growth in housing stock between 2011 and 2016 produced a 0.4 percent decline in rents on older units. In the South End, rents on old units climbed only slightly — 0.3 percent — after housing stock grew almost 10 percent. While rents have continued to rise in other neighborhoods, some city officials believe they could later experience similar reprieve.

Seeking affordability from developers

The Imagine Boston report highlights efforts to engage developers in creating more affordable housing or furnishing funding to support it. Methods include the Inclusionary Development Policy — which was established in 2000 and has been updated over the years — along with density bonuses and linkage fees. Another strategy is to reduce developers’ costs, with the expectation that the savings will then be passed on to consumers. Such cost-saving tactics include streamlining permitting processes and identifying housing designs that entail lower construction expenses.

Karen Chen, executive director of the Chinese Progressive Association, told the Banner that she recommends the city strictly enforce zoning laws, only offering zoning waivers in rare instances when residents ask for them. All too often, she said, zoning exemption and community benefit decisions are made with developers before community review processes are underway, thus reducing residents’ bargaining power and voice.

“If the city really enforced the current zoning [provisions], that would help slow down some of the luxury developments. What we’re seeing is that in lot of the different neighborhoods, they’re giving out variances left and right,” Chen said. “Each neighborhood is slightly different, and the compromises that they’re willing to make might be different.”

Chen also recommends strengthening policies on creating affordable units to match the income level of current neighborhood residents, as well as fostering more community ownership opportunities for land and housing, which she said could help regulate rent.

Other strategies outlined in the Imagine Boston plan include support for an anti-displacement policy package designed to improve tenant opportunities in cases of foreclosure or attempted eviction. Its provisions include a measure that would make legal representation in housing court a right for tenants facing eviction, not just an option. Generally speaking, landlords involved in Boston Housing Court cases have legal representation, but as of January 2017, only about 7 percent of tenants in such cases received any form of legal assistance, according to the city.

Another proposed bill would give tenants and nonprofits the first chance to pay fair market price to purchase a property subject to foreclosure or short sale. The Jim Brooks Community Stabilization Act would place more restrictions on eligible causes for eviction or foreclosure and would require landlords to notify the city of instances where eviction process has been initiated.

The report also highlights initiatives supporting landlords with affordable units. Expansion plans are proposed for a program that provides loans for investor-owners to acquire occupied multi-family rental properties. Such owners commit to maintaining a minimum of 40 percent of units at low- and moderate-income affordable rent levels for at least 50 years. Similarly, one piece of the anti-displacement package would provide state income tax credits to landlords of non-subsidized units who nonetheless offer below-market rents.

Holistic view

Taking a holistic approach enabled by such a broad plan, the Imagine Boston 2030 report also states that one way of reducing the burden of rising rents is to help incomes rise to meet it. Other areas of the report propose ideas for improving residents’ access to better-paying jobs via strategies to bolster educational access and outcomes and economic mobility.