Once a place where people from all economic backgrounds could find a niche, cities have become a place where only very wealthy or very poor people can find housing within their price range. Left out of the equation is the middle class, who is often forced to move outside of their cities-of-choice to find homes to suit their needs. However, Boston may get something of a middle class makeover in the coming years.
Boston Mayor Martin Walsh issued a housing report to city officials Wednesday, highlighting his goals for residential development in Boston. Titled, “Housing a Changing City: Boston 2030,” the report takes into consideration population increases, economic changes and social trends to formulate a decisive plan for the next 16 years of construction. Although many goals were stated, all of them support the ultimate ambition to add 53,000 housing units by 2030 in order to keep up with the population growth. These new development projects ideally will cater to the middle class, with 44,000 of the units being delegated to their needs, the report said.
So far, so good, but this project comes with a hefty price tag — about $21 billion, to be exact. Boston’s pricey property costs have a history of attracting luxury developers, who subsequently build luxury high rises at sky-high prices. In order for more affordable housing to be built, Walsh is asking that these private developers pay even more to build housing units that won’t make nearly as much rent profit as a downtown condominium paradise.
Boston has seen the gentrification of many of its formerly blue-collar neighborhoods. The Irish-Catholics, who for so long dominated South Boston, have watched their modest homes be crushed to make room for duplexes and their pubs be morphed into trendy boutique restaurants. Now, according to The Boston Globe, families with an income of $80,000 a year can only afford 4.7 percent of housing there. In fact, downtown housing has become so unaffordable, according to Walsh, that the new housing will likely be placed in other neighborhoods, such as East Boston, Dorchester, Roxbury and Allston-Brighton.
Walsh’s goals are certainly well intentioned. There is a huge income gap issue, and fewer and fewer middle class families can even consider living in downtown Boston, where many of them work. However, Walsh’s report conveniently dodged the numerous issues in Boston development. The Inspectional Services Department has long been accused of ignoring glaring deficiencies in adequate housing, allowing landlords to overcrowd crumbling apartment units. Additionally, the zoning laws enforced by the Boston Redevelopment Authority are notoriously difficult to skirt. Although Walsh said he would “loosen” zoning restrictions to get around any difficulties, he did not say exactly how he plans to do this, or what that even means.
One of the fundamental initiatives of the development plan is that Walsh plans to push colleges and universities to provide on-campus housing units for 16,000 additional beds, with the intention of moving more students out of private homes where middle class families could potentially live.
“My greatest concern is the health and safety of every young college student living off campus in overcrowded apartments,” Walsh said in a Wednesday press release.
Many students in Boston live off campus because on-campus housing is more expensive, not because there aren’t enough spaces in the dormitories. Here at Boston University, we are guaranteed four years of on-campus housing, yet 25 percent of undergraduates live off campus, according to U.S. News and World Report. And think about BU’s latest student housing endeavors — Student Village and Student Village II. It costs $15,760 to live in a single room in a two-person apartment in either of those dorms. If BU built more dorms like this, what would be the point if students still couldn’t afford to live there?
Furthermore, Walsh is simply placing the issues of inadequate student housing in the hands of the universities instead of trying to improve the existing problems. It’s nice that he wants them to add to their housing provisions, but telling them to do this requires them to spend money they may not have. And yes, the housing in Allston is not always up to code, but replacing these apartments with middle class houses would take away from housing opportunities for students and young workers.
After the Globe’s “Shadow Campus” investigative series in May, which exposed the deplorable living conditions of “affordable” housing for students in Boston, the city has been forced to address the problems surrounding living here. For starters, Walsh fired Bryan Glascock, the head of the ISD, a week after the series was published. Still, people have complained that no solid action has been taken. Maybe this report and the plans attached to it were meant to quiet those criticisms, but it seems as if Walsh is just telling people what they want to hear.
Rather than forging ahead with all of these new development plans, which frankly might be a bit too ambitious, perhaps we should try working with what Boston already has.
