Housing Justice

Creating housing options that are affordable, accessible, & reliable must be a priority for Boston. Whether owners or renters, creating robust housing options is critical to building vibrant, thriving communities. Home ownership is how many families build wealth that can be passed through generations. Housing access and stability are often the keys to most effectively delivering social services to those in need. Housing equity is at the heart of a healthy Boston.

David and his wife Lauren, started their life and their family together in East Boston. Click the play button above to watch David’s housing story video, and how it shapes our housing justice platform.

As City Councilor, I will:

Promote smart density in development. We need to encourage housing development that allows neighbors and families to stay - not be pushed out - and makes the best use of space in our city.

• Working to strategically site larger developments proposed for more residential neighborhoods in the city. Making better use of major roadways and transit hubs as natural locations for developments that significantly increase available housing stock.

• Having intentional conversations about the impact and necessary steps to shift our residential zoning away from single family homes, in line with other major American cities.

• Working with the Boston Planning and Development Agency to provide more comprehensive information to residents about both the direct impact of projects in their neighborhood, and also what the cumulative effect on quality of life issues is when these projects are connected to others in the immediate past.

Help Boston lead a regional approach to the housing crisis. There is no municipality, Boston included, that can build, zone, or otherwise find a sustainable solution to the housing crisis on its own. It is only by working with other cities & towns in the area that we can begin to develop real strategies to solve this.

• I support work that has been done by leaders like the Metropolitan Area Planning Council and Right to the City, but we can do more. Boston should be leading this regional discussion, as the community which bears the most burden in terms of housing demand.

• We must demand that our neighboring cities & towns do their fair share to support housing equity, through the development of the amount of affordable units that meet their true capacity, and that Beacon Hill holds those who shift their responsibilities to others communities accountable.

Work to pass city-wide rent control and a homes guarantee. Boston should lead the charge via our State House delegation, in partnership with the Mayor and City Council, to create consensus among cities and towns, rescind this law, and give communities the ability to consider it as one component of a larger strategy to fight housing affordability & displacement issues. And, we need to encourage our state house delegation to successfully pass the Jim Brooks Stabilization Act.

• Increase affordable housing access by raising the Inclusionary Development Policy percentage to 20% on-site and 25% off-site.

• Promote increased production of 2+ bedroom units to give more housing options to families, not just individuals and couples.

Address the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on tenants & homeowners. Particularly those in low-income areas & communities of color which have been disproportionately impacted by the virus - keeping them in their homes and off the streets.

• We must work to proactively identify homeowners on the verge of crisis and provide the necessary interventions to prevent foreclosure - which has a negative impact for entire communities, not just individual property owners.

• We need to establish guidelines to protect neighborhoods from accelerated gentrification as housing speculators seek to buy distressed properties for pennies on the dollar and flip them.

• We must work to strengthen tenants rights, prevent unjust evictions, and also help small-property landlords make ends meet through the pandemic.

As the real estate market in the city continues to push average Bostonians to the breaking point we must take a wide ranging view of policies and actions, and leave nothing off the table for consideration. This must be balanced with an understanding that some solutions may be viewed in different corners as too radical – or in fact counter to the goals of creating greater housing access and affordability. Therefore all stakeholders, housing rights & tenant advocates, as well as realtors & developers, must be at the table. It is only through the hard work of engagement and dialogue with opposing sides that Boston will be able to find a path forward on housing that ensures that there is a home for all who want one in the city.