By Somerville Times Staff

The city of Somerville, Somerville Community Corporation (SCC) and Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) will hold three public forums starting the first week of February to discuss housing issues in the city with an eye towards shaping future housing policies.

The forums, titled Housing Roundtables: A Discussion Series on Housing for Families and Individuals in Somerville, will be held on the following Tuesdays: Feb. 4 and 11 and March 4. Each forum will begin with registration and refreshments at 5:30 p.m. followed by discussions that will run from 6 to 8:30. All meetings will be held at the Argenziano School, 290 Washington St., and will include childcare and interpretation services.

Residents are encouraged to attend any or all of these forums to contribute their thoughts and experiences around housing issues in Somerville and to share their goals for future city housing polices. Staff members from the city, SCC and MAPC will guide the strategy sessions, which will build upon the community’s vision for housing diversity as laid out in SomerVision, the city’s 20-year comprehensive plan.

“Through these forums, we will tap the wisdom of the community to ensure we continue to pursue bold, effective strategies for addressing the city’s housing needs,” Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone said. “Somerville’s diversity is one of its greatest strengths, and we will ensure that we retain that diversity and that Somerville remains a home for all.”

The first meeting on Feb. 4 will feature special guest Rachel Bratt, professor in the Department of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning at Tufts University and a senior fellow at the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University. At this forum, the community will discuss what exactly family-friendly housing is, what kind of housing does the community need to be able to raise a family in Somerville, how the community can work together to meet those needs and how to best ensure affordable options for a range of incomes.

The Feb. 11 meeting will feature special guest Tim Reardon, MAPC’s assistant director of data services, and a newly released MAPC report, The Dimensions of Displacement, developed in partnership with SCC and the city of Somerville over the past two years that delves into gentrification and displacement in Somerville, particularly along the Green Line corridor. At this forum, the community will discuss what gentrification is and why it happens, how displacement resulting from gentrification has shaped Somerville’s history and how the community can work together to ensure changes coming to Somerville benefit all segments of the city’s population.

At the third and final meeting March 4, the analysis and discussion from the first two forums will be used by participants to develop concrete strategies and tools for moving forward with a strong and effective housing agenda for Somerville.

“As Somerville’s appeal grows and more people seek to live or stay here, we must protect those who chose Somerville years ago while we also welcome new families who want to plant roots in our community. And to make that happen, we need forward-thinking housing policy,” Curtatone said.

Funding for this project is provided in part by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Sustainable Communities Program.