Rep. Fiola's editorial on housing in our community

Posted Sep. 1, 2015 at 4:39 PM
Updated Sep 1, 2015 at 4:51 PM

As I reach out and interact with my constituents in the district on a daily basis to hear their stories and listen to their concerns, I’m happy to assist and tend to many of their issues. Whether they are related to health insurance, the Registry of Motor Vehicles, property, personal matters or transitional assistance, I try my best to resolve their cases, and if I can’t, I will almost always point them to someone who can.

One issue, though, that is not resolved with an inquiry email or follow up call is unfortunately one of the most common that I hear: “What happened to our city? Why has there been such an increase in low-income housing in the city? “How did this happen?”

In a city that has historically been built on immigration and has traditionally had a small town feel, where everybody knows or is related to one another, there has been an undeniable change to our community.

The not-too-distant spotlight on the number of police calls and minimum housing violations to the Colville properties, along with the most recent city ordinance violations associated with the overcrowded Justice Resource Institute properties on Roy Street and the breach of local residential zoning regulations throughout the city, has brought this concern for our community to the forefront again. The notoriety of these projects, as well as heightened attention to the increasing number of publicly assisted rental units in Fall River, has justifiably raised concern among all Fall River residents as to whether our city has shouldered more of its share of such units.

The goal of the commonwealth’s 1969 Affordable Housing Law (Chapter 40B) is to make at least 10 percent of every Massachusetts community’s housing stock affordable for moderate income households. The Department of Housing and Community Development’s Chapter 40B Subsidized Housing Inventory (SHI) identifies each city and town’s participation in this program. According to the 2014 data, only 48, or 14 percent, of Massachusetts cities and towns, including Fall River, have gone beyond the 10 percent threshold, meaning that there are 303 Massachusetts communities that have failed to uphold their responsibility for providing affordable housing for moderate income people. Many have none at all – and keep in mind that for a project to be counted toward the 10 percent 40B requirement, only 25 percent of the project needs to meet the affordability qualifier. This is a 1969 law — it is 2015, and it hasn’t come close to its goal or intention.

The total Chapter 40B Subsidized Housing Inventory, as reported by the Department of Housing and Community Development, in the city of Fall River is 4,821 units, which represents 11.3 percent of the city’s total units. Unfortunately, this data only tells part of the story, as the Chapter 40B statistic does not count the Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers that are also present in each community or other affordable housing provided under federal auspices. In addition, there is a myriad of funding sources and programs that are available to social service agencies that in turn provide rental housing assistance to families and individuals in Fall River who have a dire need for affordable housing throughout the state.

In Fall River, the Fall River Housing Authority and Community Development Agency report that there are 2,000 Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers in Fall River; additionally there are 100 federal affordable units. This compounds with the reported 4,821 units of the Chapter 40B Subsidized Housing Inventory. Assuming that the total number of housing units is accurate, which according to the Massachusetts Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development is 42,650, this would mean that the city of Fall River has a total of 6,921 rental-assisted housing units, representing 16.2 percent of our total housing stock. As such, Fall River’s share of rental-assisted units is 60 percent higher than the state mandated Chapter 40B threshold of 10 percent. This does not even account for the aforementioned social service agencies and federal homeless programs like First Step Inn, Our Sisters Place, and Family Resource Center that use funding for families and individuals throughout the city. This sends the percentage even higher.

Consequently, as a result of Fall River carrying more than its fair share of rental-assisted housing, our city is impacted by a lower socio-economic population, reflecting a median household income of less than 70 percent of the state average; unemployment rates 1.5 percentage points higher than the state average; and a federal poverty level in excess of 20 percent. To expect our city to continue to bear the weight of supporting families and individuals who are often in need of expensive social, civic and health services is unfair when Fall River already has major hurdles to overcome to financially stabilize the city.

In order for the city to stem the tide on the ever-increasing problem of more subsidized housing, it is essential that the city consider placing a moratorium, with an exception for funding for elderly, veterans or disabled housing developments, on the issuance of Fall River Housing Authority and Community Development Agency funds and any re-certification of expiring low-income housing tax credit developments until such time the city can fully understand its public rental assistance program and its impacts on public safety, education, the economy and overall quality of life. This moratorium should include, but not be limited to, nonprofit organizations’ practice of development and management of affordable housing units, or other subsidized programs designed to facilitate the growth of non-elderly, veteran or disabled residential growth.

As residents of the commonwealth, we know that affordable housing for low-income and extremely low-income families and individuals is needed throughout the entire state. I believe that Fall River needs to fully understand its subsidized housing issue before we continue to facilitate growth in an area where there seems to be a never ending source of state and federal money available to meet the housing needs of this specific population.

Allow me to be clear that I believe that it is time for the 303 Massachusetts communities that have failed to reach the 10 percent Chapter 40B threshold for the accommodation of housing stock for moderate-income households (it does not even ask for low or extremely low-income) to step up and meet their legal and moral responsibility. While all of the programs offered by the state and federal government are well-intentioned, an overabundance of these programs in any community is unhealthful, unfair and proving to be detrimental when only a few certain communities like Fall River shoulder this responsibility.