The City of Boston released its Anti-Displacement Action Plan Thursday, aiming to stabilize residents and both commercial and creative enterprises.
Announced December, the plan includes more than 40 initiatives set to be implemented over the next two years to prevent the displacement of residents, local businesses and cultural centers.
Mayor Michelle Wu discussed the plan in her State of the City address Wednesday.
“This is also the first anti-displacement plan in the country to not just focus on residents, but also include cultural institutions and small businesses,” Wu said. “We recognize that people need more than a home.”
Mayor Wu’s term has seen the most construction of affordable housing units in decades, with more than 5,000 income-based units constructed or in the process of construction as well as more than 4,000 more soon to be developed. The plan will build on these initiatives.
The Anti-Displacement Action Plan also includes a risk assessment map, which Wu said will be factored into the City’s data to help make decisions.
Wu said the plan’s development included months-long engagement with community members.in order to understand “where the stresses are being felt most.”
“They need to have the entire community’s benefits to be welcome and to be rooted firmly in their lives … making sure that we are continuing the progress on creating and building more housing in a way that stabilizes residents in their neighborhoods,” she said.
According to the plan, the Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture will also work to combat cultural displacement, the weakening of community culture due to forced relocation.
“One of the issues that this project has highlighted is the lack of data and access to data and mapping that we have to understand what is happening in real time to our creative economy and our creative industries,” MOAC Director of Cultural Planning Joseph Henry said.
Henry described the development’s collaborative process between City agencies as working together to “look strategically at how to deal with displacement across the City, whether that’s commercial spaces or in housing.”
Councilor Liz Breadon, who represents the Allston-Brighton district, said her district is facing displacement due to large student populations moving into the area.
“Displacement is happening a lot because of increased pressure on our housing,” Breadon said. “The reality is that the scarcity of housing and that we need to build more housing that’s within a certain price band that’s affordable for people.”
Breadon said she encourages developers in her district to construct units designated for low-income residents, with rents at 50% of the average median income in addition to other units set at market value — something the anti-displacement plan also emphasizes.
“We’ve heard of folks who want to buy a home in the neighborhood, but they end up buying a home further out in the suburbs somewhere,” Breadon said of her district. “It’s a constant drum beat in the background that the neighborhood is unaffordable for people.”
Henry also stressed the need to protect lower-income residents.
“We are looking at supporting cultural sectors at the moment that are generating less revenue,” Henry said. “What a lot of this work will do is raise awareness of who we have, and therefore who we need to protect, and therefore who we need to support to thrive.”
