Affordable Housing

“We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.”

- Winston Churchill

Affordable housing has always been a complicated topic in many towns in Massachusetts.  Any discussion of affordable housing starts with Chapter 40B. It is a Massachusetts state statute to promote the construction of affordable housing in communities where less than 10% of the housing stock is deemed affordable. It is implicitly a civil rights or anti-discrimination law designed to overcome restrictive and often large lot single-family zoning in suburban communities.  Developers can bypass local zoning laws, as long as 20 to 25 percent of the constructed units meet the state’s definition of affordable. The law allows limited opportunity for Town officials to alter the developer’s plans. The idea behind Chapter 40B is simple: incentivize towns and developers to build more affordable homes

So what is affordable housing, and how is it different from low-income housing? The eligibility criteria for both are based on the family’s income and the area median income (AMI) of that community. For example, what is considered affordable in San Francisco differs from what is considered reasonable in Wichita. The AMI for San Francisco is $119,000. By comparison, the AMI for Wichita is $51,000. Correspondingly, the rents are proportionately higher in San Francisco. After establishing the AMI, households earning less than 80% of it are considered low-income. Another dimension to all this is the amount a family spends on rent. According to the Housing and Urban Development (HUD), anyone paying more than 30 % of their income on housing is cost-burdened, and anyone spending more than 50 % of their income on rent is severely cost-burdened. In other words, affordable and low-income housing goals help families earning below a certain threshold and ensure their rental expense is below a certain point. Given those metrics, the fundamental difference between affordable and low-cost housing is in the administration. The former is administered by a private entity like builders, while the latter is by state governments or their agents. In the case of affordable housing, a percentage of units in a housing complex are deemed affordable by the builder and offered to qualified applicants at a lower rate so that the rent doesn’t exceed the 30% threshold. In exchange, the builder gets some tax benefits. 

Affordable housing is prominent in certain cities like Brockton, Cambridge, Framingham, and New Bedford as opposed to towns. This is because Chapter 40B is market-driven, and developers want to maximize profits and build where housing demand is higher.  As a result, in smaller suburban communities, fewer proposals come in. The slow pace of the development of affordable homes could be attributed to this. However, suburban communities are just as responsible for their towns' lack of affordable housing as the developers. They fear that the current proposals do not justify the associated cost the comes with affordable housing in their communities.

There are stigmas around affordable housing, which fall around predefined categories. Some cite the reduced tax base from these units; others are concerned about reduced property values. There is also the question of how such units will affect school enrollments, which are already strained for resources. Finally, there is the issue of increased traffic and sewer usage. The passage of the 40B bill was for this very reason - there were not enough communities willing to take the leap forward to implement affordable housing. 

There are benefits to affordable housing. It increases diversity in towns. Studies have shown that diversity enriches communities, especially schools. The diverse student body would bring diversity of thought. Reducing barriers for those who cannot afford to grow up in a better school system or even in the town where they work could provide countless opportunities.

Affordable housing could also benefit people who already contribute actively to the community, school teachers, town administrators, and public works employees, for instance, to live there. It also enables senior citizens, who might have been town residents at some point, to live or continue to live there. Many of these people would have been active community members for decades. 

On June 6, 2022, Winchester Town Meeting members approved ( by ⅔ majority) a proposal to develop a parcel of land on Waterfield Road into a 60-rental-unit affordable housing project. As a founding member of the Students for Affordable Housing Coalition and as a student from WHS, I had the opportunity to speak before Town Meeting members about the subject. In my speech, I focused on the need to embrace affordable housing and highlighted the positive aspects. While the crux of my argument focused on doing the right thing from an ethical perspective, I also acknowledged issues brought up by those against the proposal. I agreed that it may not always make financial sense. The perfect deal may never come along, but the perfect shouldn’t be the enemy of the good. Having multiple viewpoints and a forum to discuss them is critical to coming up with solutions that everybody can accept and perhaps rally behind. I also noticed that passion goes a long way in convincing people. I hope my thoughts, from a student’s perspective, resonated with the members and helped play a small role in their decision-making process. 

The work for affordable housing in Winchester continues. A new proposal for developing the Swanton Street and Washington Street lot was presented. I hope that the passage of the Waterfield lot serves as an impetus for the advocates of affordable housing. Ultimately, as with any proposal, a functional and meaningful happy medium is essential between the proponents and opponents.