The Somerville City Council is responding to calls to establish rent control measures by introducing a Home Rule petition on the matter.

By Emilia Wisniewski

Rent stabilization, affordable housing funds and this year’s Capital Investment Plan were among the many agenda items in the weekly City Council meeting on March 9.

The meeting, lasting nearly four hours, began by introducing a Home Rule petition to establish rent control to combat the rising rent costs across the city.

“We all know that for almost everyone who’s been lucky enough to get an apartment in Somerville, when they get those [rent increase] letters, there is not another place in Somerville that they can find,” said President Ben Ewen-Campen.

Ewen-Campen said the petition is being filed now because it would have been “killed” on the legislative floor but, after the success of Boston city council’s passing of its own Home Rule petition on March 8, he believed Somerville could pass their own proposal as well.

In addition to the petition, there was also resounding support for the protection of Somerville tenants. Massachusetts State Representative Mike Connelly filed the Tenant Protection Act in 2021 and said he believes tenants who are at risk of eviction are the ones who are disproportionately affected by wealth and social inequalities.

“We’ve really come a long way and, nevertheless, it’s still an uphill battle,” Connelly said.

“I think about what we need to do and, ultimately, we need to make housing a human right.”

Connelly added that Somerville’s petition should “mirror” what Boston drafted. The Boston proposal – passing in an 11-2 majority – caps year-over-year rent increases to a maximum of 10%, according to the March 8 meeting.

The entire council backed the legislation, even councilor Beatriz Gomez Mouakad who was hesitant at first.

“I work in construction and understand the increasing cost of this industry with the challenges faced with ever-rising material costs and potential shortage of labor,” Mouakad said. “I know some are concerned that these costs can put a strain on our housing industry…but this industry is only one part of the larger economy.”

A large part of the meeting was dedicated to a presentation of Somerville’s updated Capital Investment Plan of the current year, shown by Rich Raiche, Director of Infrastructure and Asset Management.

The Capital Investment Plan, a roadmap that details what large investments the city can make into infrastructure like buildings and streets, has significantly increased its financial capacity in the last two decades to allow for more projects to be undertaken. An online portal has also been developed on ClearGov to provide in-depth details of the projects and financial figures.

“Our city departments engaged in defining these projects and investments are, like the constituents we serve, agents of change in rapidly evolving times,” Raiche said. “Some needs and solutions are more clear than others, particularly as we strive to be on the progressive cutting edge.”

The council further discussed repurposing and transferring $3.5 million from the COVID-19 Stabilization Fund into affordable housing opportunities for low-income residents. Director of Housing Michael Feloney said funds should particularly go into the rehabilitation of Somerville Community Corporation’s units, which had a fire incident in 2021.

“I don’t think anybody on this council understands better how protracted the process of rebuilding after a house fire can be,” said councilor J.T. Scott. “It’s still just shocking to have [those] units completely off the market for affordable housing for that period of time, so glad we’re fixing that.”

Both requests were approved unanimously.