(from Housing Justice Boston)
March B R A housing approvals point to six figure only residents in the New Boston
During March 2017, the Boston Redevelopment Authority board approved almost 2,000 new housing units for construction in Boston. The projected costs for these units tells a clear story. This city is being rebuilt largely for residents able to pay $3,000 per month and up to live here and will effectively require an annual income of $100,000 or more to do so. Boston is rapidly becoming a city affordable to those who make six figures.
“Affordable” housing as defined by HUD is when households pay 30% or less of a their annual income toward housing costs. Using the March B R A approvals as a snapshot relative to that criteria, 88% of Boston’s current residents will be ineligible to live in the “New Boston”.
City Hall has made repeated claims about record amounts of “affordable” housing and that we should “Imagine” a Boston for all. Instead, the data shows us that the new Boston will be for the few. New housing being built is, for the most part, only affordable to the top 12% of current Boston residents… Imagine that.
Most of us here in Reality Boston accept that Downtown and Seaport are not places we will ever be able to live. But the troubling part about the March B R A new housing unit approvals is they are in the neighborhoods beyond Downtown. Developers are running out of places to build downtown, which the means outer neighborhoods are now in the cross hairs.
$3K per month, $100K a year is the new norm and nearly 90% of Boston households are not part of that equation. It’s 2017 and we’ve reached a tipping point,unless more of today’s Bostonians begin to challenge the current redevelopment model in this city (where a questionable Mayor and the B R A are all powerful), many thousands of People are about to become former Bostonians.
B R A March, 2017 – Scorecard:
- 1,953 New Housing Units
- $2,777 Average projected cost per month
- $111,080 Annual income required (per HUD guidelines)
This analysis is based on data extracted from commonly available public sources listed below:
http://www.bostonplans.org/news-calendar/news-updates/2017/03/17/bpda-board-approves-nine-development-projects
https://owd.boston.gov/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/2015-Office-of-Workforce-Development-Workforce-Report-Booklet_v1_r8_spreads.pdf
http://www.rentcafe.com/blog/rental-market/us-average-apartment-size-trends-downward/#table
https://www.jefftk.com/apartment_prices/index#2017-03-19&2
https://www.zillow.com/homes/for_rent/Boston-MA/condo,apartment_duplex_type/44269_rid/42.457154,-70.635567,42.171801,-71.305733_rect/10_zm