Trust Poured More Than $20M Into City's Housing Last Year

As housing prices across the city continue to rise, the Cambridge Affordable Housing Trust presented its progress report at last night's City Council meeting, earning guarded approval from city councillors.

The trust is spending millions in its attempt to maintain affordable housing in Cambridge, and though most councillors say it is doing enough, some argue that it--and the city--should funnel more money into affordable housing.

In its CITYHOME Initiative report, the trust said it has spent $20.15 million on affordable housing initiatives since the program began in July 1995. That translates to the preservation or creation of 1,761 affordable housing units, according to City Manager Robert W. Healy.

Cambridge "has done more than its fair share" compared to other cities, Healy said, although "there are never enough resources" for affordable housing.

He added that the 15 percent of affordable housing units citywide are, "as a percentage...extremely large."

The city is continuing its efforts to preserve affordable housing, Healy emphasized.

It will soon buy 17 buildings with 95 units for $13.4 million--$5 million of which will come from the trust--to be converted into additional affordable housing.

Healy and Assistant City Manager for Community Development Beth Rubenstein's presentation included some striking statistics on the rising rents in Cambridge.

Rubenstein said the average rents for one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments in Cambridge are $1,150, $1,600 and $2,000 respectively.

"Those are extremely high rents that have to be supported by extremely high incomes," she said.

Meanwhile, there are about 9,800 people on the Housing Authority waiting list, according to Rubenstein.

"That's a lot of folks," she said.

Looking toward the future, Rubenstein said the city will try be aggressive in its actions, keeping affordable housing to 15 percent of the city's total and making more middle-income residents eligible for affordable housing.

"Production and increasing the supply is absolutely the crucial thing," she said.

A Housing Solution?

After the presentation of the progress report, the City Council held a roundtable discussion on the issue. Extending affordable housing to those in the middle-income range was a major topic of discussion among the councillors.

"The numbers show that middle-income folks are hurting. There's no question about that," Rubenstein said.

Currently, affordable housing is available to people making 80 percent or less of Cambridge's median income of $62,700, Rubenstein said.

Vice-Mayor Anthony D. Galluccio said he also wants to help those above the 80 percent mark.

"I think there's room for us to step in with long-term financial assistance," he said.

"It's that middle ground that we're losing," agreed Councillor Michael A. Sullivan.

City councillors forwarded various suggestions to Healy and his staff. Kenneth E. Reeves '72 asked that the city keep track of the units it is losing, while Henrietta Davis suggested that the city track its progress in its yearly reports.

"The quantitative stuff is just a little bit squishy, and it doesn't have to be that way," Davis said. "Every time we get a report it's under a different time frame."

Turning the focus to development, Galluccio said there was a "real phobia against University expansion in the city," and suggested that Harvard build graduate student housing at Alewife and have students commute, thus stopping students from driving up rents.

Audience member and council candidate Vincent Lawrence Dixon criticized Galluccio's suggestion, however.

"I think universities should have all their students housed on campus," he said. "At 20- or 30,000 per year, I don't think they can justify not providing housing."

Dixon also argued that the 15 percent affordable-housing target still leaves 85 percent of the city's housing unaffordable, something which is unacceptable as once-affordable neighborhoods become increasingly expensive.

"[Cambridge] is going to become an extremely wealthy island," he said.