Why is state spending precious resources on high-end housing? (CommonWealth Beacon)
Below is an excerpt from an article published by CommonWealth Beacon on September 7. MLRI”s Executive Director Georgia Katsoulomitis and Judit Liben pen an opinion calling for reforms that would expand HDIP program to require mixed income housing.
At a time when the cost of housing is driving people out of Massachusetts, increasing homelessness, and forcing parents to work multiple jobs to pay the rent, the Healey administration will award $27 million in tax credits to developers of unaffordable—and often luxury – housing in Gateway Cities.
Gov. Maura Healey has justifiably identified housing affordability as the number one problem facing the state, and renters in the 26 Gateway Cities are struggling with surging rents, evictions, displacement, and homelessness. As the mayors of Salem and Lynn warned: “Our current residents are being pushed from our cities, and we are having a harder and harder time being a welcoming place to new residents.”
Which makes it hard to understand why the state continues to spend precious resources on exclusively high-end housing. The recently announced $27 million in tax credits through the Housing Development Incentive Program (HDIP) ignores the pressing need for affordable housing and will, in many cases, only worsen the current crisis. HDIP should be reformed to support developments that include affordable units.
Read more at the CommonWealth Beacon.
