Green affordable housing

Marianne Rutter, “Letter: Mass. Can Do More to Lower Housing Costs,” Newburyport Daily News, April 12, 2024.

To the Editor:

It should come as no surprise to my fellow readers that Massachusetts has a housing crisis. To rent the average 2-bedroom apartment in Massachusetts requires an income equal to $41.64 per hour, more than twice the minimum wage.  Do the math yourself:  Coming up with monthly rent is a near impossibility in a two-earner household working $15/hour minimum-wage jobs, even if both wage-earners are holding down two jobs.

Home ownership has become increasingly out of reach, as the state’s median home price has passed $600,000.   In parts of our northeastern corner of the Commonwealth, the average home price today is 25% higher than that.

The Legislature needs to take action before the crisis gets worse. 

Governor Healey (who, let’s remember, hails from our part of the state), has shown leadership in responding to this crisis by introducing the Affordable Homes Act, which combines funding authorizations for various housing programs with important new policy measures for affordable housing.  One of the most exciting proposals is the real estate transfer fee local option. 

This would enable cities and towns to levy a small fee on large real estate transactions in order to create a dedicated revenue stream for affordable housing production and preservation. Cities and towns across the state have already expressed a desire to do so, and the state should let them and ensure that the local option is flexible enough for cities and towns across the state to benefit.

I am grateful that the housing crisis will be at the center of the Legislature’s attention this year.  I’m urging Senator Barry Finegold and Representatives Dawne Shand, Adrianne Ramos and Kristin Kassner to advocate actively for the strongest legislation possible. Massachusetts must be a place where people can afford to live at any stage of life, and the only way to make or keep that a reality is through good policy.

Marianne Rutter

Amesbury

Letter: Transfer fee could boost affordable housing

Green affordable housing

Rachel Roth, “Letter: Transfer fee could boost affordable housing,” Your Arlington, April 4, 2024.

I am stunned by how much the cost of housing in Arlington has increased since my family moved here about 20 years ago. Renovated upstairs units in two-family condos routinely list for $1 million, and to rent the average two-bedroom apartment, someone must earn $41.64 per hour, more than twice the minimum wage – and that’s for the entire state, not just high-cost areas like greater Boston.1

We are fortunate to have Reps. Dave Rogers and Michael Day fighting for housing security, such as the right to have an attorney when facing eviction, yet there is so much more to do, including in the governor’s housing bill, unveiled last October.

The bill would be improved by adding options for cities and towns to raise money with local real estate transfer fees or implement rent control. According to the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center, with a robust real estate transfer fee, Arlington could raise almost $8 million each year for affordable housing, and Winchester could raise over $9 million.2

I ask our reps to keep pushing for strong housing laws with both statewide commitments to adequate and affordable housing production and allowances for some locally tailored options as well.

Letter: More Housing Helps Older Residents to Downsize

Jason Brown, “Letter: More Housing Helps Older Residents to Downsize,” West Roxbury / Roslindale Bulletin, April 4, 2024.

My older family members have lived here in Boston for a majority of their lives. As they grow older, their options to age-in-place or downsize are quite small: either stay in a too-big house (with too many stairs), or face a limited and expensive housing supply in Boston and across the Commonwealth.

Massachusetts faces an affordable housing crisis, and I’m hopeful of the proposals in Governor Healey’s Affordable Homes Act, which combines funding authorizations for various housing programs with important new policy measures for affordable housing.

For example, the Bill would permit Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) of <900 SF to be built by-right in single-family zoning districts in all communities and prohibit the parking mandates and owner-occupancy requirements used to make ADUs harder to build. This kind of thinking could open up new space for older residents to downsize without leaving the area.

In addition, communities across Massachusetts have shown interest in passing real estate transfer fees to raise much-needed additional funding for affordable housing, and the state should let them take action.

I am grateful that housing will be at the center of the Legislature’s attention this year, and I hope that our West Roxbury elected representatives will advocate for the strongest legislation possible. Massachusetts must be a place where people can afford to live at any stage of life, and the only way to make that a reality is through good policy.

More Letters to the Editor on the Affordable Homes Act

Nancy Phillips, “State delegation needs to support rent control along with governor’s Affordable Homes Act,” Cambridge Day, March 26, 2024.

Massachusetts is in the throes of a terrible housing crisis. A family trying to rent an available two-bedroom apartment in our expensive state (costing, as of February, $2,949 a month on average, according to Apartment Advisor) needs an annual income of at least $117,960. At $56.71 per hour, this is almost four times the state’s $15 minimum wage. (Here in Cambridge, which boasts some of the highest rents in Massachusetts, the average available two-bedroom unit rents for a staggering $3,592 a month, which requires an annual household income of $143,680.)

Meanwhile, waiting lists for rent-subsidized, affordable apartments are vastly oversubscribed, with applicants forced to wait at least three years – and in many towns as long as 10 years.

In response to this crisis, Gov. Maura Healey has introduced the Affordable Homes Act, which addresses the housing crisis in several useful ways, among them:

  • Making it easier to use public land for housing development;
  • Enabling cities and towns to establish real estate transfer fees as a means of raising funds for affordable housing development;
  • Enabling cities and towns to pass inclusionary zoning ordinances by simple majority rather than the currently mandated two-thirds vote. (Inclusionary zoning bylaws are those that require developers of new housing to include a certain percentage of affordable units.)

One critically important issue the bill doesn’t deal with, though, is repealing the 30-year-old statewide ban on rent control so those decisions can be made locally. Surely cities and towns can be trusted, and should be permitted, to make their own decisions on this as they do on other local matters.

I’m sure Cambridge’s state House members and senators will support the Affordable Homes Act. Equally if not more important, I hope they’ll make a strong effort to get the ban on rent control repealed. We in Massachusetts need to be able to do everything possible to provide affordable housing and keep people from being displaced.

Steven Leibowitz, “Healey’s Affordable Home Act gives local governments flexibility to increase housing,” Cape Cod Times, March 24, 2024.

We have talked about the issue of affordable housing on Cape Cod for decades. Our communities are working hard but struggling to find answers. We have the enormous challenge of second home ownership, environmental challenges and preserving open space, and the ever-present argument of the “character” of Cape Cod — something I’ve yet to see defined, especially in a way that overshadows the needs of residents. The people make the character.

Gov. Healey has filed the Affordable Homes Act, legislation that will create a new toolbox of opportunities for cities and towns to creatively address our housing crisis. This is an opportunity for the state to step up as a partner, unlocking options specific to one’s own community. It provides for a town such as Barnstable to have a local transfer fee on expensive real estate that could generate millions for affordable housing. This bill is the first serious effort in decades to provide money and strategies to create affordable, needed, workforce housing.

Please urge your state reps and senators to support this effort and amendments to strengthen the bill further, such as a flexible local transfer fee. The way to preserve Cape Cod is to keep people invested in and able to stay here.

Letter: Need to Push Legislation for Affordable Housing

Nina Lev, “Letter: Need to Push Legislation for Affordable Housing,” West Roxbury – Roslindale Bulletin, March 21, 2024.

I have recently had the opportunity to help a family of newcomers to Boston. This experience has given me a new appreciation of our City’s resources. The children were welcomed by the Boston Public Schools. The family has benefitted from excellent care at Boston Medical Center and enjoyed outings at the zoo and city parks. In so many ways we have created wonderful amenities, BUT our housing crisis makes it nearly impossible for our young people to build lives here, newcomers to settle here, and even for many of our residents to remain here.

The average two-bedroom apartment in Massachusetts requires an income of more than twice the minimum wage, with
the State’s median house price being $600,000. Fortunately, the Governor has introduced the Affordable Homes Act which would provide funding for various housing programs and new policy measures for affordable housing. These include enabling cities and towns, like Boston, to pass real estate transfer fees to raise money for affordable housing and creating a process to enable individuals to seal eviction records.

I know from talking with our elected representatives from both Roslindale and West Roxbury that housing is one of their major concerns. We need to encourage them to work within the legislature to support the strongest legislation possible to ensure that the residents of our communities can thrive here throughout their lives.


Nina Lev
Roslindale

Letter: The Affordable Homes Act and the price of living in Massachusetts

Hewon Hwang, “Letter: The Affordable Homes Act and the price of living in Massachusetts,” The Concord Bridge, March 16, 2024.

Our house was the single largest purchase in our lives, but we could afford it on our salaries in 1993. Unfortunately, this is no longer possible for many families today.   

Massachusetts has a housing crisis. Homeownership has become increasingly out of reach, as the state’s median home price is approximately $600,000. In more than 20 communities, including Concord ($1,594,000 in 2023), the median home price recently passed $1 million. The high cost of housing has led to displacement, and in a growing number of municipalities, the local workforce can no longer afford to live there.  

Governor Healey has responded to this crisis by introducing the Affordable Homes Act, which combines funding authorizations for various housing programs with important new policy measures for affordable housing. One of its key proposals is the local real estate transfer fee option. It enables cities and towns to levy a small fee on large real estate transactions to create a dedicated revenue stream for affordable housing production and preservation. Cities and towns across the state have already expressed a desire to do so — Concord’s home rule petition has been refiled for the third time and is pending at the State House. The Affordable Homes Act also includes capital authorizations to support the badly needed repair, rehabilitation, and modernization of over 43,000 crumbling public housing units across the Commonwealth, including $150M for public housing decarbonization and $115 million for sustainable and climate-resilient affordable housing. 

The Affordable Homes Act is a much-needed measure to address our housing crisis. I hope our legislators, Rep. Cataldo, Rep. Gentile, and Senator Barrett, will continue to advocate for the strongest legislation possible at the State House. Let’s make Massachusetts a place where people can afford to live at any stage of life. 

Hewon Hwang 

Letter: Grafton Needs the Affordable Homes Act

Dan Cusher, “Grafton Needs the Affordable Homes Act (Letter),” Grafton News, March 14, 2024.

Grafton, along with every community in the Commonwealth, has a housing crisis. Typical rent for a 2-bedroom apartment in Grafton is $1,500, requiring an income around $70,000, more than twice the minimum wage at 40 hours per week. Home ownership has become increasingly out of reach, with Grafton’s 2024 median single-family home value rising to $596,235, and new construction in town prioritizing luxury McMansions. Seniors who raised their families here can’t afford to stay. Young people who grew up here can’t afford to come back. The Legislature needs to take action before the crisis gets worse.

I’m glad that Governor Healey has responded to this crisis by introducing the Affordable Homes Act, which combines funding authorizations for various housing programs with important new policy measures for affordable housing. One of the most exciting proposals for Grafton is the real estate transfer fee local option.

This would enable cities and towns to levy a small fee on large real estate transactions in order to create a dedicated revenue stream for affordable housing production and preservation. Cities and towns across the state have already expressed a desire to do so, and the state should let them and ensure that the local option is flexible enough for cities and towns across the state to benefit.

I am grateful that the housing crisis will be at the center of the Legislature’s attention this year, and I hope that Senator Moore and Representative Muradian will advocate for the strongest legislation possible.

LTE: High rents have young people putting Boston in the rearview mirror

Jonathan Cohn, “High rents have young people putting Boston in the rearview mirror” (letter), Boston Globe, March 15, 2024.

Last year, the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce said that Massachusetts needed to cut taxes on businesses and the rich because otherwise people would flee the state. They won a generous tax package, but cutting the tax on the estates of multimillionaires and the tax on day traders and speculators won’t change the minds of young people about where to live.

Indeed, the chamber’s own new study (“ ‘Alarming’: 1 in 4 young people eye leaving Boston,” Business, March 13) shows that one of the main reasons young people consider moving away is that rent is far too high. It’s the fourth-highest in the country.

Zoning reforms that the chamber supports can make a small dent, but we also need to invest more money in affordable housing and to strengthen tenant protections. Boston has proposals to do both, with home rule petitions to create a real estate transfer fee to fund affordable housing and stabilize rents. Other municipalities do so as well, and the governor’s housing bond bill has language around the former. I’d welcome the chamber’s support for such clear solutions to an urgent problem facing the region.

Jonathan Cohn

Policy director

Progressive Massachusetts

“Cutting Through the Noise” | The Grassroots Connector

Jonathan Cohn, “Cutting Through the Noise,” Grassroots Connector, March 13, 2024.

Let me tell you a secret about your state legislature (and I’m certain it’s true of any). Your legislators don’t hear from constituents all that often. Yes, they’ll get calls about constituent services requests, and if you live in especially active districts, their inboxes may get flooded some days. But most legislators do not hear about policy from their constituents on a regular basis.

If we want better and bolder policy, we need to change that. And that’s one of many reasons we’ve been hosting phone banks at the relaunched Activist Afternoons in Cambridge on the first and third Sundays of the month.

We have been calling constituents in key legislative districts to ask them to call their legislators about important issues (and we can patch them through to an office immediately if they’re interested!) This year, we have been making calls about the Real Estate Transfer Fee, a proposal to enable cities and towns to levy a small fee on high-end real estate transactions in order to raise much-needed revenue for affordable housing. We are also backing the Gas Moratorium bill, which would put a pause on gas infrastructure expansion so that we aren’t entrenching unsustainable fossil fuels.

Odds are, you get too many emails with different action alerts (and too many fundraising emails), so it’s easy for things to get lost in the mix. That’s why these calls help. Many times, the voters we call are aware of the issues and eager to take action. But sometimes they aren’t aware but happy to learn of how they can make a difference. And too many people assume that their legislators are doing good work off in the distance when, in fact, they need to hear from constituents regularly. Calls from constituents urge them to pay attention to things they may have overlooked and give them positive reinforcement when they are doing good work. Phone bankers cut through the noise and make taking action easier for the people they call.

What is also exciting about these phone banks is that every time we train a new phone banker, or build the skill and comfort level of a returning phone banker, we are helping future campaigns, especially critical ones in the fall. Since we are calling a favorable list (our own list from Progressive Mass), people can have their first phone banking experiences with friendly voters, get used to the rhythm of phone banking, and relieve initial fears about talking to people they don’t know.

With Activist Afternoons, we also recognize that activism is always more fun when it’s social. We get to share our experiences on calls—celebrating wins, laughing at bizarre calls or answering machines, and enjoying each other’s company. And with our every-other Sunday regularity, people know that they can drop in when their schedule frees up. We’ll be there waiting — you just need to come with a good attitude, a phone, and a laptop.