SWAMPSCOTT — A report by the Swampscott Racial Justice Action Group (SRJAG) shows that the lack of affordable housing in town is a barrier to improving diversity.
“The State of Affordable Housing in Swampscott,” released last week, uses census data from 2000 and 2010, as well as information collected by the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) — a state-run regional planning agency that includes 101 municipalities in Greater Boston.
The report says that between 2000 and 2010, Swampscott saw a 3.54 percent increase in the share of the population that identified as a person of color, compared to the 6.34 percent average across the MAPC region. Lynn saw an increase of 14.9 percent.
While there are many factors that may have contributed to this, the report notes that of the people of color living in Swampscott and the town’s majority-white neighbors, the group area median incomes (AMI) are generally higher than those of the town overall, in contrast with the rest of the state, where they generally much lower.
“It is mostly the wealthiest of these groups, a small fraction that are living and moving to the predominantly white municipalities,” the report says. “The rest, the majority, are living and moving to municipalities that are already more diverse.”
Aaron Berdofe, a SRJAG member and author of the report, said that, in order to attract more minority residents, Swampscott needs to create more affordable housing, which would put the move within reach. He added that Massachusetts is facing a housing shortage.
“Basic economics dictates that, in order to appease that — to make that better — we need more housing supply in general, which will meet the demand,” Berdofe said. “You see these more affluent, predominantly white communities like Swampscott, Marblehead and Nahant not getting on board with that, which creates this unnatural segregation.”
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts Affordable Housing Law (Chapter 40B) requires that a municipality have 10 percent affordable housing — Swampscott currently has 3.7 percent. A study by the Boston Foundation in 2019 found that until a municipality moves beyond the 10 percent threshold, it most likely won’t see an increase in diversity.
According to the SRJAG report, zoning laws in Swampscott make it difficult to introduce affordable housing. While a little over half the land area in the town is zoned for residential use, about 85 percent of that (45.4 percent of the total land area) is zoned for only single-family housing, with multi-family housing (three or more units) occupying just 0.5 percent of the town’s land area.
Swampscott does have inclusionary zoning laws, which require applicable developments to make 10 percent of units income-restricted. However, these laws apply only to developments of 10 or more units, which, as stated above, are allowed in only 0.5 percent of the town.
“We need really big changes instead of the small, incremental ones,” Berdofe said. “The most radical thing that can be done is get rid of single-family zoning, because developers will build to what you’re zoned for. These are big steps that are perhaps politically unpopular, but would be the right steps to make moving forward.”
Town Administrator Sean Fitzgerald said that he appreciated the report and its message, and supports more affordable housing in the town. However, he said that he wanted to be sure that incoming developments are good for the town.
“My commitment to building affordable housing — and to being an advocate — does not preclude my concern that voracious and wholly inadequate developments can also erode and destroy the quality of life that we so carefully need to protect,” Fitzgerald said. “It’s not an us-and-them. We’re all in this together, and frankly, I think everybody has a voice that we need to listen carefully to, but most importantly to the neighborhood that’s going to be most impacted.”
To read the SRJAG report, visit swampscottrjag.medium.com.
Tréa Lavery can be reached at [email protected].
