As her opponent seeks to capitalize on her perceived housing vulnerabilities, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu introduced that town has invested $10 million in federal funds in direction of changing 347 market-rate items to reasonably priced properties.
Wu mentioned Monday that town has dipped into its American Rescue Plan Act allocation for the acquisition of The Fairlawn Estates, a set of 12 residence buildings and a leasing workplace, in Mattapan.
That funding, supplemented by “nine times that amount in private sources” together with an “almost $1 million commitment” from the newly created Boston Acquisition Fund, will convert all 347 market-rate items to reasonably priced properties for present and future tenants, Wu’s workplace mentioned.
“The City of Boston is so proud to play a role in restoring Fairlawn as an affordable home, because for decades these units were known that way: an affordable place to raise a family and take care of everything that your family needed,” Wu mentioned at a press convention at Fairlawn Estates.
The mayor mentioned, nevertheless, that over the previous few years, “the rent here was hiked up and up and up, and families were forced out of Fairlawn, out of Mattapan, and out of the city of Boston.”
Wu mentioned her administration’s determination to fight these lease will increase and restore affordability to the complicated was due, partially, to the advocacy of Fairlawn residents, who “rather than back down,” organized, challenged the lease hikes, pushed for fundamental maintenance, and lobbied their elected officers for change.
“Thanks to your leadership, your resilience, your strength that lives here, right here at Fairlawn, you won,” Wu mentioned.
Josh Kraft, son of the billionaire New England Patriots proprietor Robert Kraft, former head of the household’s philanthropic arm and Wu’s mayoral opponent, disagreed with Wu’s framing of her determination, claiming that it was reactionary to his bid for mayor.
“Josh has a plan to jumpstart the creation of new housing that average people can afford, and a rent control program that will provide real relief for renters and works for building owners,” a Kraft marketing campaign spokesperson mentioned in an announcement. “Just like her recent move on bike lanes, the mayor’s announcement is a direct reaction to Josh’s candidacy.
“Mayor Wu is now trying to cover up her exceptionally bad record on housing.”
Kraft, via his marketing campaign, additionally repeated his previous criticism of the mayor, saying that Wu’s “unfulfilled promises and impractical policies have caused rents to surge 20% and housing production to drop by 60%.”
“Under Mayor Wu, Boston is at the very bottom of cities in the country in the production of new housing,” his marketing campaign mentioned. “While other major cities around the country are building and housing costs are going down, new production in Boston has ground to a halt.”
Wu responded to Kraft’s criticism after the press convention, telling reporters that the funding in Fairlawn Estates is likely one of the largest acquisitions her administration has made below town’s Acquisition Alternative Program.
She mentioned her administration has preserved the affordability of 1,000 items below that program, which is described by her workplace as serving to mission-driven builders purchase and protect present reasonably priced housing and guarantee it stays reasonably priced for present and future residents, “five years ahead of schedule.”
“Now this is another 350 units; so we are just going to keep going,” Wu mentioned. “This is the most effective use of our resources — to keep families in their homes, and it’s working. It took a long time to get here but now that we’ve worked this out and understand how to do things like this, it’s just going to get faster and we’ll be able to do more as we go.”
At Fairlawn, town’s funding via a partnership with the property’s new proprietor Associated Reasonably priced, an affiliate of Associated Beal, will be certain that half of the 347 items will probably be reserved for households incomes not more than 60% of the world median earnings.
The opposite half will probably be for households incomes not more than 80% AMI. The settlement additionally limits lease will increase to not more than 2% per 12 months and consists of “ongoing support for households with housing vouchers,” Wu’s workplace mentioned.
Fairlawn residents and neighborhood organizers seized on their victory to protect affordability on the complicated as a possibility to push for lease management all through Boston and Massachusetts.
“The constant stress of facing huge rent increases and eviction weighed on us every day over the past six years, and it wasn’t right — but we want people to know that housing is a human right and we can win the homes we deserve,” Betty Lewis of the Fairlawn Tenant Affiliation mentioned.
“This is a community victory won by neighbors working together, and it’s not just for us. We hope it inspires organizing for housing stability all across Boston and across the state, because we all deserve good, stable homes.”
Wu’s lease management laws was handed by the Metropolis Council however has stalled on Beacon Hill, and Kraft has pushed for a landlord-friendly non-compulsory lease stabilization program that he says wouldn’t require approval from the Legislature.
Wu has bashed Kraft’s proposal, which might incentivize property house owners to maintain rents low in change for a tax break, as “fake rent control” however spoke favorably of an identical “good landlord” choice that was handed by the Metropolis Council final month.
Initially Revealed:
