By Joe Creason

The City Council held a regular meeting on Thursday, March 10. The meeting began with City Council President Matthew McLaughlin tabling a substantial list of agenda items regarding the FY 2023 budget which are to be addressed during the finance committee meeting next week.

The Office of Strategic Planning and Community Development conveyed results for the 2021 Housing Needs Assessment in an address to the Council. The assessment was conducted by consultants from the Barrett Planning Group LLC and Community Circle, two firms that specialize in housing demographic studies and neighborhood advocacy respectively.

“The Needs Assessment report focuses on housing affordability and the degree to which housing costs exceed what people in Somerville can afford,” said Consultant Judi Barrett of the Barrett Planning Group.

According to the Somerville Zoning Ordinance, a periodical needs assessment is required to determine the effectiveness of the ordinance.

“Everywhere I go for a housing study, everybody wants to know, how did Somerville do it? and they want to be like Somerville. I think you should know that because good things are happening in your city that are not happening in a lot of other places,” Barrett said.

According to Barrett, the needs assessment draws on data from a variety of both public and private sources, as well as interviews individuals in Somerville and organizations familiar with the city.

“My experience in this world is that the data tells a story but it doesn’t tell the complete story. It’s really when you connect the data with the people who have housing needs or who are serving people with housing needs, that the picture becomes clearer,” Barrett said.

The Barrett Planning group reviewed rental listings for small multifamily buildings, which make up a large portion of available housing units in Somerville. Reviews of larger projects like older properties and new luxury units, were also part of the assessment.

“As one quarter of the total population is foreign born and 30% do not speak English at home, it can be assumed that language barriers are an issue for many people who are trying to find housing through the traditional channels and application process,” Barrett said.

This comment is in light of new demographic information for Somerville. In 32,800 households comprised of over 80,900 residents, the percentage of people between the ages of 18-34 is nearly twice that of the state average. The Metropolitan Area Planning Council estimates a gain of 12,000 people by 2030.