Boston development boom a bust for low-income, minority residents

Boston’s construction industry is booming — officials approved $5.6 billion of new development last year, a trend that shows no signs of slowing down — but housing advocates said slow progress in affordable housing has caused a gentrification “crisis point” that is pricing out out people of color and low-income residents.

“We are at a crisis point and we need to save our neighborhoods and our communities and protect the people that are here,” said Kathy Brown, executive director of the Boston Tenants Coalition. “Long-term residents and families and especially low-income folks, people of color, seniors and disabled folks have been impacted harshly by the housing crisis.”

Boston is now the third-most-expensive city in the nation, according to a December analysis by Zumper that places median one-bedroom monthly rent at $2,500. To afford an apartment at that price, renters would have to earn more than $105,000 per year to avoid being “rent burdened” — a federal definition that describes people paying more than one-third of their income toward living expenses.

The median household income in Boston is about $62,021, according to American Community Survey estimates, but it can be much lower for different demographic groups.

The average black family in Boston earns $44,700, compared with $52,800 for Asian families and $32,500 for Latino families, data shows.

Boston Planning & Development Agency approved 4,974 residential units, 24% — or 1,216 — of which are income-restricted units, but Brown said the city needs to increase its affordable housing requirement for new development projects.

“Under Mayor Walsh, our economy is continuing to thrive and create new opportunities throughout Boston’s neighborhoods. The development projects approved this year have created affordable housing opportunities and new open space, benefited our economy and job market and contributed to workforce development programs,” said Boston Planning & Development Agency Director Brian Golden.

But currently only about 13% of  units in new projects must be affordable under the city’s inclusionary development policy. Brown wants to see that increase to 30%. The city is working on an update now.

“The gap between wages and market rents is way out of whack,” Brown said. “Normal working people — let alone low income households — cannot afford market rents in Boston.”

For residents like Shameeka Moreno — a mother of six who’s dealt with homelessness — it’s meant a constant struggle to keep up with rent. She’s currently fighting an eviction from her subsidized apartment in Roxbury, where she said her landlord is again trying raise the rent.

“This is the reality. This is how we’re living,” Moreno said.

Mayor Martin Walsh’s administration is working on housing reforms, with bills before the Legislature that would aid tenants facing eviction, and a real estate transfer tax to finance more affordable housing.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/2ZFsPX5