April 6, 2021 6:57 pm
An exorbitantly high-cost housing market like Boston can’t let any affordable housing tool go unused.
But rent-to-own agreements, typically a pathway to homeownership for people with low credit or not enough money for a down payment, aren’t usually found in the city’s affordable housing toolkit alongside measures such as inclusionary development and financial assistance for first-time home buyers.
Greater Boston’s home prices, among the highest in the United States, are a major reason why.
“It’s definitely an on-ramp to homeownership, although probably not in Boston,’’ said Laurie Goodman, vice president of housing finance policy at the Urban Institute, a think tank in Washington, D.C.