Dorchester stops proposed homeless family housing due to lack of parking
Overcoming Resistance to Increasing Affordability
The pandemic has worsened America’s affordability crises for both renters and potential homeowners. When people are priced out of Baltimore, East Oakland and other long affordable communities, something is badly out of whack.
We know how to address these crises. For low-income people, a combination of federal rent subsidies, new affordable units and strong rent controls and eviction protections. For potential homebuyers, cities must improve affordability by ensuring enough housing gets built to meet rising job and population growth.
Unfortunately, resistance to solving both crises remains fierce
A new affordable housing proposal has ignited debate over the role of single-family homes in Cambridge.
Titled the âMissing Middle Housing Petition,â the proposal is sponsored by the affordable housing nonprofit A Better Cambridge and the Boston Sunrise Movement, and calls for zoning changes to allow for the construction of more multi-family âmiddle housing,â or four-plexes, triple-deckers, and townhouses. Over the last week, the petition has been met with mixed responses from City Councilors and residents.
At an April 8 Ordinance Committee meeting, the City Council voted to keep the petition in committee pending further review and feedback from the Community Development Department, the cityâs planning agency.
Great Start to 2021
Housing advocates have had a lot to celebrate. President Biden’s Executive Order extended the national eviction moratorium through March and a longer extension with increased tenant protections is on the horizon. In addition, flawed rent relief procedures issued by the Trump Administration to access the $25 billion already allocated were tossed and will soon be replaced. Biden ended his first week raising the FEMA reimbursement rate for housing the unhoused in hotels from 75% to 100% that’s a game changer for cities struggling to address homelessness.
Last week also saw the National Low Income Housing Coalition and over 2000 groups ramp up a national drive for significantly increased federal housing funding. I’ve followed national housing politics since Jimmy Carter’s presidency; this is the first time I recall “affordable housing” being highlighted by top officials on the first day of a new presidency.
UPDATED: Jan. 20, 2021 at 5:40 p.m.
During a tumultuous four years under the administration of Donald Trump, local leaders have dealt with the fallout of how its policies trickled down into the lives of Cambridge residents. While Covid-19 and economic fallout raged nationally, the cityâs top issues â small business erosion, food insecurity, and homelessness â have all been exacerbated.
Now, as President-elect Joe Biden is set to take office, he has proposed lengthy plans to tackle the nationâs crises. Looking ahead, Cambridge leaders said they have both hopes and demands for renewed local support under a Biden administration.
Under Trump, the Cambridge Community Foundation, a public charity that funds nonprofits around the city, transitioned to devoting its funding to combat the effects of the administrationâs âregressive policies,â according to its president, Geeta K. Pradhan.
The city of Cambridge, Mass. is getting serious about solving the housing crisis. This fall, its council passed a policy so explicit in its commitment to ending out-of-control home prices that it caught the attention of an expert at the University of British Columbia.
Announcements, Events & more from Tyee and select partners
We’re hiring a newsletter specialist, audience development analyst, and office co-ordinator. Check it out and spread the word!
“It’s twice as ambitious as my most aggressive dream for Vancouver,” UBC landscape architecture professor Patrick Condon told The Tyee of what’s being adopted in Cambridge. “It effectively says you cannot add any density at all unless it’s going to be permanently affordable.”