Affordable housing a top concern for Mattapan renters, homeowners

Mattapan residents and community members discussed fair housing concerns at the Mildred Avenue Community Center on June 13.

Increased rents, higher property taxes, rising insurance costs, and concerns about the affordability of new units are just a few of the issues surrounding fair housing that Mattapan residents are talking about, most recently at the Mildred Avenue Community Center on June 13 where they discussed their concerns with officials from the Boston Public Health Commission and the Mayor’s Office of Fair Housing and Equity.

“This is our opportunity to plan our neighborhood,” said Dwaign Tyndal, former manager of outreach and policy at the Fair Housing Center of Greater Boston in offering welcome remarks to attendees.

The meeting was one of the first in a series the city is hosting to gather feedback on the first draft of its Assessment of Fair Housing (AFH). A second draft will be produced in early August, followed by a citywide hearing on Aug. 22.

Resident comments are extremely important, stressed Janine Anzalota, executive director of the Fair Housing and Equity office. The final AFH draft will be submitted to the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), with the data and comments presented in the AFH helping to determine how HUD funds will be invested in future projects and initiatives.

At the June 13 session, community members heard presentations from Anzalota and Monica Valdes Lupi, executive director of the Boston Public Health Commission, who highlighted findings from the 2016-2017 Health of Boston Report. She talked about the unique demographic makeup of Mattapan, where 80 percent of residents identify as black, as compared to only 22 percent in the city of Boston as a whole.

Social-determinants of health outcomes—things like access to education, income, transportation, healthy food, health care, and housing—rank lower in Mattapan, Lupi pointed out. “For many of these in Mattapan, social-determinants of health outcomes are actually worse than when you compare it to Boston,” she said.

Following the presentations, attendees split into groups to discuss these factors and their connection to housing. All three groups pinpointed similar issues, with unaffordable rents and displacement from the neighborhood the top concerns.

“I can’t afford to stay here,” said one resident, a mother with a young son. “We’re in the depths of a housing crisis.” She added that income limits for housing assistance are often unrealistic for moderate-income earners.

Many in attendance who own their homes said they were glad they had decided to purchase property when they had the chance. However, high property taxes are a concern, as are high insurance rates.

“Even if you purchased your home, you can’t afford to stay in it,” said one homeowner, who mentioned the expenses individuals face to bring property up to code if they want to rent it out to help with mortgage and tax costs.

A few older residents told of how they struggle to pay their property taxes and home insurance. They also fear that their children will never be able to afford to buy a home in Mattapan, forcing families who have lived there for generations out of the neighborhood. “We all need to come up with our own plan about how we want the community to evolve,” urged another resident.

Cynthia Lewis, vice president of the Mattapan Homeowners and Neighborhood Association and the moderator at the meeting, agreed. “Mattapan for me is not only home, but a good place to live,” said the Mattapan native earlier in the evening, referencing the origins of the neighborhood’s name—a Native American word meaning “a good place to sit.”

Lewis was happy with the turnout, but she wants more representation from her neighborhood at the city’s series of AFH meetings. She feels that if residents don’t seize this opportunity to have their voices and opinions heard, the changes and development they want to see in the neighborhood may never happen.
“If you want to see a change, you have to be the change,” she said.

Those who did attend were hopeful that their comments will make it into the AFH draft that HUD will receive, and as a result they will see some of the proposed improvements.

Geraldine Allen, a Mattapan resident, was optimistic and felt the meeting was informative. “This is my first community meeting,” she said. “In the future, we’ll see it will be helpful – if we’ll see these changes.”


Subscribe to the Dorchester Reporter