By Kyle Dante

Housing is not easy to come by in any location. Several external factors make housing hard to access. The most prominent reason is income. Other factors include family size and background information. Among the demographics besides income assessed are race and ethnicity, age, and disability.

On April 20, the Somerville Housing and Community Development Committee held a meeting on Zoom discussing its recently conducted Housing Needs Assessment (HNA). The HNA, led by the Barrett Planning Group, drew public and private data across the Somerville neighborhood. The purpose reviewed rental property listings, including two-family homes, small multifamily, and big projects of older and newer quality.

According to the American Community Survey, 80,906 Somerville residents make up 32,802 of its total households. When referring to demographics, residents between 18 and 34 make up close to twice the state population. The reasoning stems from the number of students living in Somerville increased over the last fifty years. Tufts University plays a significant role in this because it is the only major Massachusetts college renting and owning property.

The survey addressed the following demographics: race and ethnicity, disabilities, and housing access. Of the sampling, 68.2% of Somerville are non-Latino whites, 12.4% are Latino or Hispanic, 10.2% are Asian, 5.6% are Black, and other-to multiracial makes up 3.8%. Of that percent, at least 1/4th of Somerville are foreign-born; another 30% do not speak English.

For disability, approximately 6,400 Somerville residents have a disability.

Furthermore, a startling 23% are at a poverty wage rate. With a disability, a Somerville man makes no higher than about a median of $30,000, with disabled women making around half that amount. A Somerville man without disability makes around $55,000 to about a $47,000-$48,000 median earning for a woman. Income-wise, it is still a problem.

Although over 40% of Somerville households make over $125,000 yearly, 16.8% make below $30,000. As a result, the Census Bureau for Somerville estimated that 1,139 family incomes are below poverty. It is a slight decrease for homeowners but an increase for renters with extremely low to minimal income.

With these in mind, consider the households owned in Somerville. In Somerville, renters make up 66% of the 32,802 households. Most Somerville households consist of 2 to 3 people (a 2.37 average). In addition, 34% of the Somerville households and 43.5% of the renters are of the 24-34-year-old demographic.

These factors have led to the creation of the Inclusionary Zoning Ordinance. IZO has created 310 affordable housing units in Somerville as of April 2021. The goal is to continue helping find affordable housing for qualifiers. Also, it is to stabilize various aspects of Somerville housing, such as parking, utilities, and housing costs themselves.

Through the survey, the issues in Somerville housing are as follows: the addition of more units, small and large, that are affordable. The goal is to create more affordable housing for people no older than 25 years old and help the elderly and disabled with greater accessibility to their current housing.

The Housing and Community Development Committee meeting video can be accessed at: http://somervillecityma.iqm2.com/Citizens/