By Kimberly Geronimo

Nine candidates for city office discussed their positions on affordable housing Wednesday, Oct. 24, in a forum sponsored by the Affordable Housing Organizing Committee and the Somerville Community Corporation. All six candidates for alderman-at-large appeared and the challengers in Ward 5 and Ward 7 also appeared, although the incumbents for those seats did not. Ward 6 Alderman Rebekah Gewirtz also appeared at the forum.

Ideas overlapped as the candidates consistently presented themselves as proactive supporters of the creation and protection of affordable housing, reformers of condominium conversion regulations, and opponents of displacement and discrimination. Yet despite the repetition, the discussion did circulate a variety of different approaches to the issues at hand. 

The forum’s first question asked candidates to describe the steps they would take to expand existing efforts to create and protect affordable housing.

“We need to work with Harvard University” said Alderman-at-Large John M. Connolly,. Harvard “is working themselves up Beacon [Street]. Everyone can feel Harvard’s presence, why shouldn’t we be partnering with Harvard to provide affordable housing?” he said.

Universities were also on the mind of Gewirtz. She voiced concern about the impact of university students on affordable housing in Somerville. “There are landlords who’d rather rent to students than to families because they can get more money,” she said.

Fred Berman, first-time candidate for alderman-at-large, was on the same page as Gewirtz. ‚ÄúThe more we can get universities to house their students on campus…there will be less of a demand‚Äù and housing prices will lower, he said.

Directing his attention to the other side of the affordable housing equation, Berman spoke of a need for job matching and skills development programs to help people “boost their incomes.” Alderman-at-Large William A. White Jr., summed up the ‘two-sides-to-the-problem’ approach. “We need to coordinate the creation of good paying jobs and affordable housing,” he said.

White also voiced interest in exploring investment tax credits as a means of lowering
housing prices.

All the candidates supported, or were open to, an increase in the percentage of units required to be affordable in the current Inclusionary Zoning Ordinance.

“The easier road is 12 percent. The harder road is 15 percent. This property is extremely valuable, [the developers] can give us 15 percent,” said Gewirtz.

Joseph Lynch, candidate for Ward 5 alderman, took a tough stance towards developers. ‚ÄúIf you want to build in our city, if you‚Äôre going to profit from the Green Line expansion…you‚Äôre going to have to give back more,‚Äù he said.

Despite his support for inclusionary housing, Alderman-at-Large Dennis Sullivan, said he was not opposed to offsite housing. “If we can get good affordable housing, we should consider offsite housing,” he said.

The forum’s second question asked candidates to describe the steps they would take to address the problems associated with the recent surge in condominium conversions in Somerville.

The responses revealed parallel approaches to tackling the issue. “Tenants and landlords need to know their rights under land laws,” said Berman. His statement summed up the general position of the candidates.

But despite this general consensus, smaller nuances in their plans differentiated the candidates.

Tony LaFuente, candidate for alderman-at-large, advocated for a more individualized oversight of condominium conversions regulations, such as the period of protections for tenants and relocation expenses. “If people can’t find [a new place] in two years, then we’ll look at it case by case,” he said.

“We need to put safeguards on things and allow movements,” he said. “If we put a time frame on things, there’s no movement.”

But Berman disagreed with LaFuente’s plans. “Flexibility makes everybody nervous because landlords don’t know what they have to do, tenants don’t know what they have to do,” he said. “Clarity is helpful.”

As the focus of the forum turned to preventing displacement, other ideas surfaced.

Rachel Heller, who is challenging incumbent Robert C. Trane in ward 7, advocated increasing the inclusionary zone percentage as well as trying “a few new things” like employer-assisted housing, in which businesses would help with their employees’ down payments, she said.

The final topic discussed at the forum was discrimination against tenants. Candidates placed themselves squarely against discriminating landlords and advocated enforcement as the primary means to combat it.

“We need to become very aggressive as a city to identify those landlords” who discriminate, said LaFuente. “We should give them funding to get rid of lead paint so they don’t have that excuse,” he said, referring to the tendency of some landlords to cite lead paint concerns as a reason not to rent to families with small children or to accept Section 8 vouchers.

“The issue is always enforcement,” he said.

Sullivan’s approach to discrimination was also enforcement-heavy. “I advocate that they would be prosecuted to the full extent of the law,” he said, speaking of discriminating landlords.

On a more cooperative note, Gewirtz encouraged the city to “figure out ways that landlords and renters can communicate better.” She also proposed that Somerville take advantage of the Fair Housing Center of Greater Boston, an organization that tests for lead paint.