The City of Boston is experiencing a crisis in housing. High-end housing is being built at record breaking levels while much needed affordable housing is being severely constrained by the scarcity of both reasonably priced locations to build and the high costs of construction. While many dedicated non-profits are working hard to develop the lower ends of the affordable housing range, there are very few instances of affordable housing for the middle class in today’s Boston. That is not a recipe for a diverse, balanced and thriving city.
Bill Walczak is proposing an approach to the city’s housing crisis based on a new reliance on Master Planning and a real program of regionalization.
We have to break away from a development and program orientation focused on parcels. We need to use neighborhood Master Planning to identify neighborhood issues and opportunities, prepare creative plans, and marshal all available resources to realize those plans. A neighborhood is more than a collection of real estate parcels. We need a new focus on neighborhood development that looks objectively at locations that could, and should, be the sites of new housing — housing that reflects the needs of a broad range of incomes. This new focus also needs to be spread to all municipalities in Greater Boston. Every city and town should use careful planning to determine how its attributes (land, infrastructure, public transit, commercial nodes and open space) can best be used to strengthen the region. Boston is not an island but is the core of a very successful region that now needs to acknowledge the inter-connectedness of Greater Boston.
Each neighborhood should have an open, comprehensive and transparent Master Planning process. It is imperative that the public’s needs be outlined, discussed and debated before individual developments are considered. There will never be full agreement on any development in a neighborhood but the key is to have fair, objective and publicly vetted development goals available to guide development. Individual property owners can no longer dictate development. The public good must be determined and pursued.
Housing is a Greater Boston issue. Bill Walczak will work with the state and other regional municipalities to build more housing. We need to increase the metropolitan supply of housing to stabilize, or lower, housing prices. More housing supply outside Boston helps to moderate the city’s housing prices.
It is absolutely necessary today to follow our region’s rapid transit lines and work to build new housing near transit stations — regardless of the existing political boundaries. Transit Oriented Development (TOD) is necessary in Boston and other Greater Boston municipalities. State government can play a very active role in supporting, and funding, this approach. No non-profit organization, agency or municipality should be tackling these issues alone. We need a team approach. Bill Walczak and the City of Boston will lead this effort.
Bill Walczak’s Housing Program includes the following:
1. Comprehensive neighborhood Master Planning
- Neighborhood based assessment of its land uses, problems and opportunities
- Needs and objectives of the neighborhood, the city and the region
- Open and transparent public engagement, using technology to enhance
participation - Land use plan prepared, discussed and issued
- Alignment of Master Plans and zoning
- Alignment of city and state resources with Master Plans
2. Coordination and cooperation with other Greater Boston Municipalities
• Work with state government, other Greater Boston municipalities and the Metropolitan Area Planning Council to identify Transit Oriented Development opportunities
3. Commitment to inclusiveness in tenancy, ownership and construction of housing
- Support and enhance existing goals for Boston residents, people of color and women owned businesses in the construction of housing
- Recruit large construction companies to work with smaller minority/women owned companies on bidding for large projects
- Work with unions to develop flexible construction staffing models
4. Partnerships with institutions, non-profit developers and for-profit developers
- Push every Boston college to provide on-campus housing for all undergraduates
- Work with every Boston graduate program to develop creative housing options
for graduate students - Develop new guidelines and programs with financial institutions to promote home
ownership - Work collaboratively with non-profit and for-profit developers to jointly build
Boston according to the neighborhood Master Plans - Create a commission involving representatives from developers, construction
companies and architectural firms to develop ways to produce good quality housing at a lower cost, so that the limited subsidy dollars available for housing construction can go farther. - Work with unions to develop flexible construction staffing models
5. Adequate and consistent funding of housing programs
- Establish reasonable, consistent and adequate funding levels within the city’s budget to support housing
- Work with state government and other Greater Boston municipalities to focus state funding on Transit Oriented Development
6. Commitment to green/sustainable construction and healthy buildings
