LYNN — U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA) held a forum on the Commonwealth’s affordable housing crisis Monday morning at Lynn City Hall. Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll also attended to discuss what the state needs in terms of housing.
In his opening remarks, Mayor Jared Nicholson said housing is a major issue for the city, the Commonwealth, and the nation.
“Almost half of our residents in the city are cost burdened by housing, paying more than 30 percent of their income on housing costs, and it’s an incredible challenge for all of us to try to make progress on that,” Nicholson said.
The issue of affordable housing takes a collaborative effort, he said.
“[I am] very grateful for Congressman Moulton for spearheading that, and this discussion today,” Nicholson said.
Moulton echoed Nicholson’s sentiments and said there is a ”direct line” between housing loss, job loss, and mental health.
“This is a local state and federal challenge and we need both immediate crisis relief and longer-term solutions to create a more sustainable future,” Moulton said.
One important piece of the housing crisis has to do with transportation, he said.
“The MBTA is an epic mess,” Moulton said. “What we all need to better understand is the intimate connection between the two. There are actually a fair amount of affordable housing in Massachusetts, but it’s not near or accessible to the competitive jobs.”
Creating a faster and more efficient public transportation system would be “transformative” for the job and housing markets in eastern Massachusetts, he said.
Monday’s forum was to discuss what is being done locally and regionally for affordable housing, as well as what still needs to be done, he said.
“The point of today’s forum is … to have the base that spawns new ideas, new approaches, and forces us to confront the reality of our failures as well as our successes,” Moulton said “Traditional housing policy alone is not going to solve this crisis.”
Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Regional Administrator Juana Matias, was a panelist at the forum and spoke on what HUD is doing to address affordable housing.
“A combination of redlining, discriminatory housing policies, and practices have led to our present day housing instability and are a direct cause of the growing racial wealth gap. It is a hard truth to swallow,” Matias said.
Matias, like the other speakers, said the collaboration between different sectors at every level of government.
“The Biden administration is committed to helping ensure that suitable housing is available for all Americans. The administration has implemented a multi-pronged housing approach with unprecedented investments in preservation, increasing rental assistance, affordable housing production, expanding access to homeownership, ending and preventing homelessness,” Matias said.
HUD has a proposed funding amount for fiscal year 2023 of $58.2 billion which is a $4.5 billion increase from FY2022.
Driscoll said housing is “critical” for the success of Massachusetts communities.
“We don’t have enough [housing] anywhere,” Driscoll said. “We have built less housing than we built in the decade before that in Massachusetts. There is currently a 200,000 housing-unit gap.”
There is not enough housing to meet the demand of the population, she said.
Driscoll described what the Healey administration is doing to address the housing crisis. One aspect Driscoll mentioned was the establishment of a housing secretary in the executive branch.
“We’re going to work to put in place solutions with all of you on what we can do to improve housing and livable communities. One of the first acts that we’ve taken on to help try and do that as the creation of this new Housing Secretary,” Driscoll said.
The Healey administration wants to find ways to work together with all governmental sectors, nonprofits, and housing agencies on the crisis, she said.
“We want to understand how we can help you all support the type of housing that we know you need and want in your communities. It’s something that we’re going to be leaning in on,” Driscoll said.
Other panelists included Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston Senior Vice President Ken Willis, Harborlight Community Partners Executive Director Andrew DeFranza, and Lifebridge North Shore President Jason Etheridge.
Mike Deehan of Axios Boston moderated the discussion and members of the community had the opportunity to ask questions regarding housing in Massachusetts.
