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By Wilfred Mbah
Candidate for Somerville City Councilor at Large

Two weeks ago we listened in to the meeting of the city’s Community Preservation Act Board, at which the Somerville Affordable Housing Trust made its annual update report. This account of the key indicators and plans gave us the chance to reflect back on the programs and policies that the City Council enacted in 2018-2020. How are they succeeding? Are they achieving the outcomes that we anticipated?

Our original goals and expectations

In those months before COVID, the City Council was most concerned with the problems of affordability and displacement that were the results of accelerating economic growth, in-migrating higher-income households and transformative redevelopment.

We were guided by the Housing Needs Assessment of 2015, which had found that only 10% of the total housing stock was in the category of affordable – that is, for households under 80% of average median income. These included 3,066 affordable rental units and 112 affordable ownership units (out of the total number of 32,400 dwelling units of all types in the city.

Anticipating population growth, the 2015 study projected the need for up 9,000 new units of all rent/price levels by 2030. But because of rising costs of development and maintenance and the pressure of market demand, larger numbers of families would need assistance. The study set a goal of 20% of all units to be fixed at affordable levels. And it called for expanded programs of rent/mortgage assistance to help low and moderate income families pay for their housing and avoid displacement.

Following this guidance, the Council took actions in 2017, 2018 and 2019. In the Zoning Ordinance, we increased the inclusionary housing requirement to 20% of units in all new buildings with 8 dwelling units or more. In the Housing Overlay Zone regulations, we added the incentive of “bonus” floor area for developers who would provide more affordable units, and similarly offered bonus and dimensional adjustments to 3 or 4 family houses that would contain an affordable rental unit.

We expanded services for families facing eviction, foreclosure, and discriminatory practices by re-organizing the Office of Housing Stabilization. We redesigned the Housing Waiting List to make it easier for families to apply and participate in the lotteries for affordable units. And we looked for new sources of grants and subsidized loans for housing non-profits to build, rehabilitate and maintain affordable units.

Impacts of the COVID emergency and recovery

COVID initially disrupted these city initiatives, but the emergency actions of the state and the inflow of federal funds allowed the city to get back on track fairly soon in FY 2021.

The emphasis of the housing programs shifted somewhat. Because the state had imposed a temporary moratorium on evictions and foreclosures, the problem of displacement of families was avoided for a while. This allowed the Housing Stability Office to focus on delivering help to families that lost jobs and income and fell behind on rent and mortgage payments. Funds from the federal emergency and recovery grants were directed into these programs. The city also designed and enacted a new program of city housing vouchers, which will start in fall of 2023. It will reach families, who are otherwise ineligible for federal Section 8 vouchers.

Where are we today?

The numbers provided by the Affordable Housing Trust and the city Housing Stabilization Office show both substantial progress and the challenging work that lies ahead. First, we can see slow but steady progress in raising the numbers of affordable units toward the 20% goal. By 2023, we seem to have reached a bit over 11.5% — about 3,900 units out of the 33,500 total. In FY2024 we expect that this ratio will improve to over 12%:

Table 1: Expansion of Somerville Affordable Housing Stock since 2016

The city has also made significant progress in finding revenue sources that can be directed into the affordable housing development and housing stabilization programs. The city has taken advantage of the available state and federal funding, as well as using its own budget surpluses (Free Cash and Stabilization accounts) to accumulate capital for housing construction, rent arrears assistance, subsidized loans and eviction/foreclosure and displacement protections.

Table 2: Comparison of the Sources of Funding for Affordable Housing in Somerville

Sources: Somerville Affordable Housing Trust Fund FY2017 Report; Somerville CDBG website bi-annual Action Plans; Housing Stabilization Office report;, FY22-FY23 (Q3) update Affordable Housing Trust

What remains to be done?

These indicators appear to show that the policies and programs that the City Council, put into place before COVID, are proving their validity today. With excellent management by the city agency managers and staff, and with the continuing oversight of the Council Committees and Mayor’s offices, steady progress is being made. We must keep in mind that the economic conditions of last few years have been somewhat unusual. The city has been able to draw resources from the strong regional economy and the many new investments and developments in the city. At the same time, the COVID emergency and recovery grants have offered a large one-time inflow of funds.

The COVID monies must be spent by the end of Fiscal Year 2025, and it is likely that declining development and productive activity in the region will cause our regular property tax and sur-tax (CBA) revenues as well as developer-generated fees to settle back to the 2016-2017 normal levels. Similarly, funding that reflects regional/national conditions – like the CDBG grants – will also receded somewhat.

City leadership, therefore, will need to maintain its commitment to affordable housing as the top priority – continuing to draw funds for housing from every available source of grants, developer payments, or unspent budget lines. The Council and Mayor have resubmitted to the state legislature the Home Rule proposals for the Real-Estate Transfer Tax; the Tenant Right of First Refusal when their unit or building is proposed for sale or condo conversion. They will also propose a system of Rent Stabilization (Control).

Neither of these legislative initiatives will sail easily through the state process and it will require persistence and strong cooperation of our Somerville officials with Boston, Cambridge and other cities, who have proposed similar Home Rule powers.