Housing

As your City Councilor, I will be committed to expanding housing opportunities that are affordable to the residents of D1. Like so many of us, I have experienced being rent-burdened and have an understanding that homeownership can feel unattainable. Housing is a human right and I intend to advocate for my constituents and residents across Boston to not only live here but thrive through a range of policies and initiatives, regardless of where you are in your housing journey.

Opportunity

We need to acknowledge that Boston is a world-class city filled with opportunities that will continue to attract a range of residents. Whether it be a college student transplant or a recent arrival migrant family, our city will continue to grow. Given that we need to accommodate for growth, we should embrace certain changes in how the public participates and shapes the look and feel of our built environment. This is why I will advocate for a greater emphasis on collaboration between residents, who are our community experts, and credential planners to help make our neighborhoods more efficient and be able to effectively handle an increase in capacity. Efforts such PLAN: East Boston and PLAN: Charlestown should ultimately result in planning driving development - not the other way around.

It’s no secret that Boston does zoning by variance. This is why I support revamping the City’s zoning to be more predictable, transparent, and accessible for residents and builders alike so that more than just corporate developers benefit from changes in our neighborhood. I’m proud to have worked on a Home Rule Petition (now at the state legislature) that reforms the Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) to have additional backgrounds beyond the real estate community on the board. Not only will this change bring the needed perspectives of an urban planner and environmental advocate to the ZBA, but it also sets term limits and requires quarterly reports for variances granted.

There needs to be better accountability for housing reforms originally crafted by Councilor Edwards and promised by former Mayor Martin J. Walsh through an Executive Order. The ZBA is supposed to expand language interpretation services and make both applications and records available online for review by the public. Additionally, notices should be posted and delivered electronically to abutters who have signed up via their zip code. I will push to ensure these reforms are actually taking place and potentially expand upon the Home Rule Petition that was passed by the Council in 2020.

The process to redefine the framework of our neighborhoods through zoning should be community-led and incentivize developers to produce buildings with an increased amount of deed-restricted affordable units. I’m open to exploring inclusionary zoning overlay districts, transit-oriented developments all while preserving and maintaining neighborhood character within historic districts of each neighborhood.

I fully support increasing the percentage of required affordable units in new developments from the current 13% to 20%. The “affordable” units should actually be affordable at a spread of AMI’s that reflect the neighborhood from 30% to 80%. I will work with developers so that they are utilizing the successful City Voucher program to ensure there are units available for individuals and families at 30% AMI.

Stabilization

In a city where nearly two-thirds of residents are renters, tenant protections are of high importance to keep people in place. This is why I support efforts such as right-to-counsel, just cause evictions, and the expansion of the Office of Housing Stability to prevent displacement. These measures would be valuable safeguards for some of our most vulnerable renting populations such as young families, immigrants, and seniors.

I understand the current system needs to be adjusted having worked on constituent cases in which families and individuals were at risk of having to move due to massive spikes in rent. This is why I support rent stabilization of non-deed restricted units with expectations for new construction. My vision allows landlords of older housing stock to still raise rents thereby enabling them to keep up with capital repairs and granting them the ability to reset rents once a tenant moves out. For tenants, it would mean not needing to worry about exorbitant year-over-year increases.

I will also fight to expand the City’s Acquisition Opportunity Program (AOP) to assist our local community development corporations with purchasing existing housing stock to cut down on building costs and preserve its affordability. The goal is to keep people in their homes and empower responsible investor-owners with a proven track record in managing finances and long-term management of properties over time.

Furthermore, I’d like to expand technical assistance and deepen financial support for community land trusts (CLTs) and their development. CLTs would be another tool to help residents remain in their neighborhood by placing the opportunity to buy land into the hands of a community collective, rather than speculators, to keep housing prices affordable long term.

Increased Investment

For the first time, Boston will have unprecedented federal investments through the American Rescue Plan Act totaling half a billion dollars. And more are expected to come. We should be ready to utilize this funding to house and supplement funding where appropriate.

Thanks to the innovation and creativity of those at the Boston Housing Authority (BHA), the City of Boston now has its own voucher program (CBVP). It’s funded through the annual budget and assists with making existing income-restricted housing affordable to low-income and extremely low-income renters. The program ensures that new or existing tenants pay no more than 30% of their income for rent. We should utilize the strength of this program, and its strong financial backing, to make these units accessible in new developments. This will help increase the supply of dignified, safe, and stable housing for referred individuals and families from BPS, BHA, the Department of Neighborhood Development (DND), and the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD).

Other crucial measures I would push for are increasing downpayment assistance for first-time homebuyers and first-generation homeowners, expanding near zero-interest loans and grants for home repairs and green renovations, and further connecting constituents to low-interest rate mortgage options Not only would I seek to use the new budget process that gives the City Council greater say over monetary allocations for programs such as these, but I would work with culturally competent and trusted community-based organizations to ensure the marketing is reaching the residents of District 1.