►
Description
Docket #0178 - hearing regarding Speculation in the Boston Housing Market
A
One
counselor
sabe
Jorge
counselor
Josh
Newcomb,
counselor,
Madame,
Ally,
counselor,
McCarthy,
counselor,
Andreea,
campbell
and
counselor
Kim
Janey
I,
want
to
remind
you
that
this
is
a
public
hearing,
is
being
recorded
and
broadcast
live
on
channels,
Comcast,
eight
RCN,
82
and
Verizon,
one
nine,
six,
four
and
webcast
on
WWF
Austin,
gov,
City,
Council
TV.
Please
silence
your
cell
phones
and
other
devices.
We
will
also
we
will
be
taking
public
testimony
and
I
would
appreciate
it
if
or
we
would
appreciate
it
if
you
would
sign
in
to
testify.
A
So
anybody
who
would
like
to
testify
at
some
point
please
go
to
either
one
of
the
corners
and
sign
up
at
the
start
of
your
testimony.
Please
state
your
name,
your
affiliation
and
your
residence.
Today's
hearing
is
on
docket
zero,
one,
seven,
eight
an
order
for
hearing
regarding
speculation
in
the
Boston
housing
market.
This
matter
is
referred
to
the
Committee
on
Housing
and
Community
Development
on
January
24,
2018
I
call
today's
hearing
to
put
an
ear
to
the
ground
and
to
listen
to
what
is
happening
in
our
communities.
A
I've
invited
residents
advocates
experts,
members
of
the
real
estate
industry
and
others
concerned
about
our
community.
We
want
to
better
understand
what
is
real
estate
speculation,
what's
happening
with
our
rents,
what's
happening
with
the
flipping
of
our
residential
properties
and
in
general,
our
housing
city,
housing,
production
goals
and,
most
importantly,
the
experience
of
communities
that
are
struggling
with
displacement.
I've
made
my
opinion
clear.
While
we
need
to
continue
to
build
more
housing,
we
cannot
do
that
in
isolation.
A
We
cannot
do
that
to
the
exclusion
of
other
critical
interventions
that
would
stabilize
families
today
invest
in
our
future
or
generate
revenue.
We
need
to
build
more
deeply
affordable
housing.
We
need
to
assure
that
we
that,
as
we
pick
up
the
pace
on
construction,
we
give
communities
planning
tools
to
participate
in
the
design
of
their
own
neighborhoods
and
the
financial
support
to
build
housing,
that's
affordable
to
all
Boston
residents,
as
we
are
building
more
supply
to
accommodate
a
growing
need.
We're
also
going
to
examine
this
placement
of
existing
residents
and
businesses.
A
The
stabilization
of
existing
residents
and
businesses
as
well
and
the
disposition
of
land
to
permanently
affordable
uses
uses
we're
going
to
explore
new
sources
of
revenue
while
considering
how
best
to
deploy
the
funds
available
to
us.
Finally,
I
wanted
to
mention
I've,
been
pleased
to
speak
with
many
developers
in
my
district
about
how
to
move
forward
with
more
affordable
climate,
resilient
housing
and
new
homeownership
opportunities.
A
No
so
I
just
would
read
this
statement
from
my
colleague
councillor
at
large
Ayanna
Presley,
who
could
not
be
here
dear.
Madam
chairwoman,
I
regret
that,
due
to
a
long-standing
scheduling,
commitment,
I
will
not
be
able
to
attend.
Today's
committee
has
Committee
on
Housing
and
Community
Development
hearing
regarding
speculation
in
the
Boston
housing
market.
I
want
to
thank
the
chair
and
author
of
this
order
for
elevating
this
critical
conversation.
Housing
is
a
human
right,
and
the
displacement
of
our
families
constitutes
a
public
health
crisis.
A
I
want
to
thank
the
Walsh
administration
and
the
Department
of
Neighborhood
Development
for
their
work
and
look
forward
to
solutions
that
prioritize
safe,
clean
and
affordable
housing.
I
will
have
staff
present
at
the
hearing
and
will
review
the
recording,
Thank
You
councillor
Ayanna
Presley,
so
we're
gonna
go
ahead
and
open
up
with
our
first
panel
and
I'll.
Have
you
guys
introduced
yourselves
and
what
you
do
for
the
city
and
then
you'll
go
ahead
and
I
guess
present
some
things
and
then
we'll
go
through
with
some
questions
as
well.
Go.
B
Ahead
very
good.
Thank
you,
councillor
Edwards,
for
the
record.
My
name
is
Sheila
dill
and
I'm,
chief
of
housing
for
the
city
of
Boston,
and
also
the
director
of
the
Department
of
Neighborhood
Development
I'm
joined
here
today
with
my
colleague
from
the
BPD,
a
Tim
Davis
and
Gail
Willett
from
assessing
I
want
to
thank
you
for
inviting
us
to
speak
today
and
I
look
forward
to
working
with
the
council,
as
we
always
do
on
these
very
important
issues.
So
the
city
of
Boston
and
the
BPD
a
have
looked
at.
B
You
would
sent
over
exhausted
list
of
questions
which
was
helpful
and
we've
worked
on
them
for
the
last,
probably
four
or
five
days.
A
lot
of
research
staff.
I'll
present
some
of
those
answers
today,
but
you
probably
will
have
follow-up
questions
and
not
every
question
could
be
answered
with
the
datasets
that
we
had
so
we're
trying
to
explore
others.
B
To
that
end,
we've
made
a
lot
of
city-owned
land
and
funding
available
for
the
creation
and
preservation
of
affordable
housing
were
proposed
that
a
third
of
the
new
housing
being
created
be
made
available
to
households
that
are
rent
burdened.
We're
waiting
for
state
approval
on
that
we've
created
the
office
of
housing
stability
in
part
with
your
leadership
that
is
working
with
individuals
and
families,
and
that
work
continues
in
the
volume
is
large.
We've
created
a
loan
pool
and
a
subsidy
program
that
encourages
the
acquisition
of
market
rate
rental
properties
in
neighborhoods
and
I.
B
Think
we
need
to
do
more
of
that.
We're
having
early
success
in
East
Boston,
where
Noah
is
buying
a
lot
of
triple-deckers
and
I.
Think
it's
a
proven
concept
that
we
need
to
increase.
We
filed
anti
displacement
legislation
at
the
state.
Many
of
it
did
not
make
it
out
of
committee,
which
is
unfortunate,
but
we're
still
fighting
to
get
the
Jim
Brooks
stabilization
act
out
of
committee
and
voted
on
favorably.
This
is
only
a
partial
list
of
our
activities
and
we
look
forward
to
any
new
ideas
that
come
out
of
this
hearing.
B
B
Interestingly
756
or
fifty-eight
percent
of
these
properties
were
condo
units.
Well,
we
are
very
concerned
about
the
flipping
of
two
and
three
families.
We
identified
that
there
were
a
hundred
and
thirty-eight
flips
of
two
families
and
one
hundred
and
forty-seven
of
three
family
properties.
At
this
time
we
do
not
have
information
on
the
status
of
the
moat,
the
smaller
multi
families
at
the
time
of
the
first
sale,
where
you
need
to
research
now,
where
they
owner
occupied,
were
they
occupied
by
renters?
Were
they
vacant?
B
You
had
asked
about
vacancies,
and
while
we
do
not
have
reliable,
there's,
not
a
good,
reliable
source
on
properties
that
are
vacant,
we
know
that
the
city
of
Boston
has
roughly
a
3.1
percent
vacancy
rate
now
and
that
reflects
properties
that
are
on
the
market
in
2016.
I
should
say
that
have
not
been
rented
or
sold,
so
our
vacancy
number
is
very
low,
but
we
don't
have
a
number
for
properties
that
are
vacant
that
aren't
being
offered
for
sale
or
rent.
B
So
it's
it's
I
think
you
are
looking
at
how
many
properties
are
just
invested
in
and
perhaps
not
occupied.
We
don't
have
that.
We
don't
have
that
analysis
and
we
don't
know
how
to
get
it
we're
working
on
it,
but
we
don't
yet
know
how
to
how
to
get
that
number
condo
conversions.
So,
in
the
past
three
years
there
have
been
631
rental
properties
converted
to
condominiums.
B
85%
of
these
were
in
small
multifamily
properties
and
I.
Don't
think
that's
a
surprise
to
to
many
of
us.
I
do
want
to
state,
though,
that
Boston
is
a
very
limited
ability
to
regulate
this
activity.
The
condominium
conversion
is
a
real
estate
activity
that
is
authorized
by
the
Massachusetts
condominium
act.
Chapter
183,
a
of
the
general
laws.
The
state
law
that
prohibits
Boston
from
having
rent
control
also
prevents
Boston
from
restricting
condo
conversions.
However,
a
separate
law
state
law
does
allow
this
need
to
require
protections
for
tenants
living
in
buildings
with
four
or
more
units.
B
B
You
would
asked
about
production,
sorry
I'm
just
going
through
the
list
of
questions
so
it,
but
they
all
they
all-
are
tied
together
and
related.
Since
the
beginning
of
our
housing
plan,
Mayor
Walsh's
housing
plan,
the
city
has
permitted
26
thousand
units
of
new
housing
19.3%
or
over
five
thousand
of
those
units
are
deed,
restricted
and
affordable
to
low
and
middle-income
households.
B
In
addition
to
creating
new
housing,
we
are
also
working
hard
to
preserve
the
affordable
housing
that
we
currently
have,
including
public
housing,
and
that
there
are
13
a
developments.
Many
of
those
developments
you
you
all,
are
working
on
them
as
well
and
they're
very
at-risk
properties
that
are
owned
by
for-profit
developers
in
high
rent
neighborhoods.
B
We
are
also
working
very
hard
to
assist
middle-income
families
to
purchase
homes,
especially
families
and
households
of
color.
Securing
an
affordable
housing
unit
or
buying
a
home
that
one
can
afford
are
both
effective
preservation
strategies,
city-owned
property,
much
of
the
new,
affordable
housing
that
is
being
produced
is
being
produced
on
city-owned
land.
We
currently
own
one
thousand
two
hundred
and
seventy
four
parcels
of
land,
and
this
number
is
never
static.
B
Our
housing
development
units
are
working
very,
very
hard
to
dispose
of
our
land
since
2014
we've
either
we
have
sold
or
we
have
designated,
went
in
to
purchase
and
sale
with
200
parcels
of
land.
The
vast
majority
of
that
is
to
be
used
for
affordable
housing,
community
gardens
or
urban
farms.
Another
233
parcels
are
an
active
community
process,
we're
working
in
the
communities
that
you
are
you
you
and
your
staff
attend
many
of
these
meetings
and
then
another
370
parcels
are
under
staff,
review,
we're
looking
at
environmental
conditions,
zoning
whether
they
are
buildable,
etc.
B
Other
DND
parcels
within
that
1200
are
not
our
priority
at
this
time
because
they
are
either
wetlands
or
urban
forests.
So,
while
we
need
to
take
care
of
them
there,
we
have
already
deemed
them
not
to
be
developable,
so
that
is,
that
is
the
information
that
we
have
for
you
right
now,
based
on
the
questions
that
were
sent
over
and
I
do
want
to
turn
over
the
the
podium
to
Tim
Davis
and
the
BP
da,
because
some
of
the
questions
were
directed
to
the
BP
da.
Thank
you.
Thank.
C
You
Sheila
and
for
the
record,
I
am
Tim
Davis
I'm,
the
housing
policy
manager
for
the
Boston
planning
and
development
agency.
A
couple
few
of
the
questions
that
were
brought
to
as
an
advance
or
about
foreign
investment,
and
although
the
BP
da
doesn't
address
that
directly,
I
have
done
some
looking
into
those
questions.
One
of
the
leading
reasons
we
have
little
no
data
on
foreign
investment
or
our
ownership
is
because
the
u.s.
allows
owners
to
own
properties
through
the
use
of
limited
liability
corporations
or
LLC's.
C
These
LLC's
are
very
common
in
the
real
estate
market
and
can
be
useful
tools
used
correctly.
For
example,
commune
development
corporations
use
this
form
of
ownership
to
assure
that,
if
one
property
has
financial
problems,
their
other
properties
are
not
affected.
There
are
drawbacks.
This
form
of
ownership
as
knowing
who
the
owners
of
these
LLC's
are
can
be
very
opaque.
Indeed,
the
Treasury
Department
out
of
concern
that
some
LLC's
are
being
used
to
launder
money
in
certain
markets
and
certain
property
types
is
now
requiring
additional
information
in
New,
York,
Miami
and
a
few
other
markets.
C
Since
we
have
little
data,
we
only
have
more
general
survey
data
from
the
National
Association
Association
of
Realtors,
who
found
that
5%
of
transactions
nationally
were
made
to
foreign
buyers.
Massachusetts
was
not
among
the
top.
Nine
destinations
performed
foreign
buyers
overall,
but
we
were
sixth,
most
popular
amongst
Chinese
buyers
and
fourth,
most
popular
amongst
Indian
buyers.
For
both
of
these
groups,
the
vast
majority
are
resident
foreigners,
in
other
words
those
who
are
here
for
work
or
on
a
student
visa,
not
for
a
second
home
or
just
an
investment.
C
This
speaks
a
lot
to
Boston's
draw
for
students
and
innovation
workers.
Additionally,
I'm
not
aware
of
any
good
data
on
how
frequently
developers
use
the
eb-5
visa
program
to
secure
investors
for
their
developments,
thus
reducing
their
cost
of
development.
For
those
who
are
not
familiar
with
the
program,
foreigners
can
invest
in
u.s.
projects
that
create
jobs
in
exchange
for
a
visa
for
permanent
residency.
Under
the
rules
of
this
program,
an
investment
of
at
least
1
million
can
be
made
anywhere,
but
only
with
only
500,000.
It
can
be
made
in
what's
called
a
targeted
employment
area.
C
There
are
questions
about
how
these
areas
are
defined
and
implemented.
The
federal
General
Accounting
Office
has
been
doing
some
research
into
this
program
and
I
support
efforts
to
identify
ways
that
it
can
be
more
suitably
targeted
to
high
unemployment
areas.
I
also
wanted
to
address
some
of
the
questions
related
specifically
to
be
pda's
role
in
addressing
speculation
and
the
creation
of
affordable
housing.
C
As
part
of
the
article
80
development
review
process,
our
powers
to
address
short-term
rentals
is
limited,
so
we
are
heartened
that
the
mayor
and
this
body
are
working
together
to
regulate
short-term
errands,
which
would
fall
under
the
purview
of
the
inspectional
Services
Department,
as
it
relates
to
disposition
of
property.
Our
agency's
evolution
from
the
Boston
Redevelopment
Authority
to
the
current
BPD
a
includes
a
renewed
emphasis
on
the
agency's
core
missions
of
planning
and
development.
The
question
then
becomes
how
the
agency
can
best
utilize
its
remaining
real
estate
assets
to
achieve
Mayor,
Walsh's
housing
goals.
C
The
BPD,
a
and
D
and
D
have
worked
cooperatively
to
bring
these
real
estate
assets
to
the
marketplace
with
the
goal
of
having
locally
based
developers,
builders
and
community-based
organizations
to
develop
these
properties
for
affordable
and
mixed-use
housing
opportunities,
for
example,
with
D
and
D.
We
are
currently
planning
the
disposition
of
eight
groups
of
parcels
in
Dudley
square,
which
will
all
require
that
two-thirds
of
the
units
will
be
income
restricted.
C
Last
but
not
least,
I'm
proud
that
under
the
inclusionary
development
policy,
we
have
created
approximately
2,000
income,
restricted
units
and
funds
paid
to
the
inclusionary
development
policy
fund,
which
is
managed
by
DMD,
has
led
to
the
completion
of
about
1200
additional,
more
deeply
affordable
units.
This
completes
my
opening
statement
and
I
look
forward
to
your
questions.
Thank.
A
E
A
You've
gone
into,
and,
of
course
any
of
my
colleagues,
if
you
wanted
to
ask
any
questions
at
any
point,
let
me
know
so
just
going
back
to
the
two
DND
I
wanted
to
talk
a
little
bit
more
about
the
the
flipping
know
you,
you
went
back
three
years.
You
said
yes
and
you
defined
a
flip
by
if
it
had
changed
hands
twice,
and
so,
but
a
majority
of
the
flips
that
you
found
were
within
the
first
year
over
the
first
two
years.
First,
two
years
were
1,100
flips.
Do
you
know
of
that
1,100?
F
B
G
H
Based
on
justice
three
years,
it's
not
so
much
that
the
number
is
going
going
up,
but
it's
more
the
time
period.
So
there
are
many
more
of
them
that
happen
after
a
two-year
period,
then
at
a
one-year
period.
So,
for
example,
24
months
it's
a
thousand
seventy-six
flips.
During
that
period
we
only
looked
at
2015
to
2017,
because
if
you're
looking
at
a
two-year
period
of
flips,
you
need
to
look
at
at
that
three
years
to
be
able
to
tell
how
many
of
them
flips
in
two
years
it's
really
I-
would.
A
A
Okay,
so
whether
there's
been
an
increase
in
the
amount
of
flipping
activity
in
that
what
within
one
year
would
be
really
important
to
know.
Some
of
the
analysis
that
I
also
see
here
is
based
off
of,
if
they're
worth,
if
we
were
to
the
City
of
Boston,
were
to
implement
a
attacks
on
flipping.
For
example,
there's
based
on
the
average
net
flip
I
think
she'll.
You
said
it
was
$230,000
permit.
That's.
A
I'm,
assuming
it's
that
number
that
feeds
into
the
the
tax
that
I
have
here
that
says
that,
if
it
was,
if
you
were
to
implement
a
30
percent
tax
for
flips
within
six
months
or
less,
the
city
of
Boston
would
have
a
profit
of
what
71
million
dollars
am
I.
Reading
that
correctly,
but
actually
over
new
I'm
sorry
21
million
dollars.
I
see
this
I'm
looking
at
this
graph
and
yeah
I
just
want
to
make
sure
I'm
reading
this
correctly.
A
A
That
correctly,
am
I
understanding
that
that's
what
that
would
be
if
it
was
six
to
twelve
months
at
a
25%
tax
tax
revenue
would
be
seventeen
million
two
hundred
seventy
four
thousand
dollars
yeah
all
right
and
then
the
taxes
I
see
going
down
the
longer.
The
person
holds
the
property
so
with
over
two
year.
Excuse
me,
with
18
to
24
months.
A
15%
tax
would
then
generate
three
million
dollars
or
close
to
four
million
dollars.
A
Okay,
all
right
I
just
want
to
make
sure
I
understand
that
analysis
and
again,
what
would
be
helpful
is
to
see
if
the
full
ping
is
going
up
in
Boston
or
not
in
order
to
look
further
into
flipping
the
other
questions
I
had
and
I
don't
want
to
totally
I
can
wait
for
a
round.
If
any
of
you
have
any
questions.
Okay,.
A
With
regards
to
your
numbers
on
the
vacancy,
you
had
mentioned
that
the
analysis
was
hard
to
get
at
and
how
many
units
were
owned,
not
occupied
and
not
rented.
When
you
were
looking
at
the
numbers
and
I
understand,
and
for
five
days
you
had
thousands
of
things
to
look
there.
So
I
appreciate
your
effort.
I
know
how
hard
you
work
and
I
I
just
want
to
say
thank
you,
but
in
terms
of
how
owns
we
have
that
that
that
data
pretty
pretty
easily
with
the
Registry
of
Deeds.
A
B
Did
we
did
not
do
that
analysis?
We
we
could
see
if
we
can
do
that,
I'm
I'm
just
trying
to
it's
sort
of
the
amount
of
properties
in
the
city.
It's
kind
of
a
just
two
hundred
over
two
hundred
fifty
thousand
properties
units
we'd
have
to
cross-reference
every
unit
with
those
two
other
data
sets
I'd
be
glad
to
look
into
this
counselor.
It's
just
it's
a
it's.
A
very,
very
large
research
project.
I
can.
B
Those
aren't
properties
that
are
being
just
held
vacant,
and
so,
while
we
can
get
the
3.1
and
feel
pretty
good
about
the
methodology,
although
it's
not
perfect,
it's
a
survey,
I
I,
don't
know
short
of
counting
up
all
the
units
and
seeing
which
ones
don't
have
a
residential
exemption
or
registered
at
the
register.
Rental
properties,
properties,
yeah,
I,
I,
don't
know
how
to
get
at
it
and
so
I
think
they're
short
of
that
I
and
I
I
think
we
do
know
too
that
the
the
number
of
people
that
are
claiming
residential
exemptions
is
not
perfect.
B
A
B
A
Be
helpful
to
know
again
Tim
you
had
mentioned
that
there
was
two
two
states
already
Miami
I'm
sorry,
two
cities
now
Miami
in
New
York,
whose
Treasury
Department's
were
doing
additional
I,
don't
know
auditing
or
additional
I,
don't
know.
Could
you
talk
a
little
bit
more
about
those
programs
in
those
other
cities
when
it
came
to
I?
Think
the
foreign
investor
LLC's
right.
A
C
A
C
At
first,
it
was
restricted
to
Manhattan
and
Miami.
They
have
now
expanded
it
in
2017
to
some
other
cities,
as
well
as
all
of
New
York,
and
we
are
not
currently
included
in
that
list
of
properties
and
what
they're
doing
is
they're
actually
getting
the
actual
real
owners
of
the
units,
what
they
call
the
beneficial
interest.
That's
an
owner
that
owns
25
percent
or
more
of
the
property
and
they're
getting
that
through
the
title.
A
A
Actually
that
talked
about
the
rise
in
rents
and
one
of
the
the
biggest
I
think
arguments
for
building
as
much
as
we're
building
is
that
we're
hopeful
to
stabilize
our
rents,
as
in
with
the
supply
and
demand
adage
that
if
you
build
more
there's
more
supply
that
somehow
the
prices
will
go
down,
I
don't
know
if
you
had
a
statement
of
reaction
to
the
article,
if
there's
some
analysis
in
there
that
it's
missing
a
point
of
view,
it'd
be
really
helpful.
Yeah.
F
B
I
will
start
and
then
others
can
chime
in
a
the
globe.
Article
looked
at
Greater
Boston,
so
it
was
sort
of
interesting
that
that
there
four
percent
rate
increase
wasn't
just
Boston
Proper.
It
was
Greater
Boston,
which
I
think
others.
Other
surrounding
towns
are
seeing
slight
increases
as
well.
We
are
right
now
working
with
the
BPD,
a
and
the
MAPC
and
looking
at
our
population
projections
to
see
whether
or
not
the
projections
that
we
made
three
years
ago
are
still
accurate.
B
We
said
we
would
do
this
every
year
and
we're
working
on
this
right
now
with
them.
If,
if
the
population
grow,
our
population
growth
is
larger
than
we
thought.
When
three
years
ago
we
may
have
to
increase
the
numbers
of
the
supply
that
we
need,
but
we
also
know
that
Boston
shouldn't
just
be
doing
this
alone.
We
really
do
need
a
regional
response.
People
don't
want
long
commutes,
but
they
will
take.
B
They
will
do
a
short
commute,
so
we
really
do
want
our
surrounding
cities
and
towns
to
build
more
housing,
especially
by
transit,
so
we're
working
with
MAPC
and
14
cities
and
towns
are
very,
very
close
to
Boston.
On
coming
up
with
a
composite
number,
a
production
number
that
we
need,
so
it's
not
just
Boston.
We
also
recognize
that
the
housing
that's
being
built
is
not
going
to
be
affordable
to
everyone
and
that
we
need
to
continue
to
build
affordable
housing,
certainly-
and
we're
committed
to
doing
that.
B
A
B
B
I
mean
we're
looking
at
that
right
now.
It
really
depends
on
the
pop
what
our
populate,
our
new
population
numbers
are
showing
us
and
what
the
the
composite
number
the
MAPC
comes
up
with.
So
if
the
cities
and
towns
surrounding
Boston
will
produce
more
housing
and
commit
to
that,
then
we
can
adjust
downward.
So
we're
looking
at
all
of
that
and
we
hope
to
have
numbers
by
May
June,
which
you'd
be
glad
to
share
with
you.
A
Right
that
was
without
the
push
for
this
em.
Yet
correct
me.
If
I'm
wrong,
we
managed
to
house
Bostonians
at
that
point
without
the
additional
units
and
the
thousands
of
you
know,
units
going
up,
so
there
seems
and
I
don't
expect
any
of
your
projections
or
having
us
at
802
about
that.
Why
some
people
would
argue
that
there's
a
disconnect
that
in
1950
we
had
800,000
people
here,
we
house
them
and
I
see.
A
C
C
C
There
are,
there
certainly
were
houses
that
were
torn
down.
There
were
buildings
that
were
torn
down.
There
were
things
like
that.
There
were
changes
in
uses
over
time.
I
don't
have
an
exact
number
on
that,
but
overwhelmingly
Sheila
is
right.
It's
about
the
change
in
household
size.
I
mean
we're
used
to
you
know.
You
know
families
that
had
three
four
five
kids,
you
know
two
people
a
room,
etc,
and
today
the
expectation
is
more
one
person
per
room
and
our
household
size
is
closer
to
2.6.
C
C
Don't
have
the
exact
numbers
on
hand,
but
oh
I
would
say
that
by
and
large
a
lot
of
the
units
that
are
coming
online
in
the
building's
we
see,
which
are
the
buildings
with
15
units
or
more,
are
a
very
large
proportion
or
one
bedrooms.
Some
are
two
bedrooms
and
we
also
have
a
substantial
number
of
studios,
but
I
can
also
say
that
studios
are
meeting
a
part
of
the
market
that
is
really
out
there,
because
we
weren't
building
studios
and
buildings
for
many
years.
A
A
I
I
B
Don't
have
data
on
actually
who's
buying
properties
in
the
city,
and
we
could
look
at
last
names
and
make
some
assumptions,
but
I
think
they
would
be
faulty
assumptions.
We
do
know,
though,
that
the
number
of
units
being
taken
off
the
market
in
downtown
locations
is
growing
every
single
year
and
that's
why
we're
extremely
hopeful
that
in
the
next
you
know
a
handful
of
weeks
that
we're
working
with
the
council
on
Airbnb
policy
that
works
for
the
city
of
Boston.
B
B
Know
that
we've
looked
in
the
past
and
Bob,
you
know
defer
to
you
but
I
know
in
the
past
we've
looked
at
whether
or
not
properties
were
financed,
whether
or
not
they
took
out
a
loan
to
purchase
or
whether
they
were
cash
buyers.
We've
done
that
analysis
in
the
past,
because
that's
easy
for
us
to
see
a
mortgage
recorded
or
a
mortgage
not
recorded,
but
I.
H
I
I'm
concerned
about
that
issue,
especially
I,
just
don't
want
foreign
investors
coming
into
into
Boston,
buying
up
property,
displacing
low-income
families,
immigrants
in
my
community
in
Chinatown,
my
neighborhood
in
Chinatown.
A
lot
of
people
rely
on
services
in
that
neighborhood,
especially
health
care
and
social
services.
I
just
hope:
we're
not
giving
anyone
any
tax
assistance
to
commit
to
Boston
to
build
by
PA,
B&BS
and
then
they're
displacing
anybody.
I
hope.
That's
not
the
the
issue.
Is
that
something
we
could
you
know
just
long
term.
We
can
look
at.
We.
B
Will
take
this
research,
a
question
back
counselor
and
other
cities
have
tried
to
figure
this
out.
So
maybe
we
can
talk
to
our
colleagues
and
other
cities
to
see
if
we
can
figure
out
how
to
get
this
information
I'm,
let
the
Assessor
speak
or
the
commissioners
speak,
but
I'm
not
aware
of
any
tax
breaks
that
are
going
to
investors,
foreign
or
otherwise,
to
purchase
properties,
to
convert
to
Airbnb
s.
I
And
then
my
final
question
or
issue
would
be
the
opportunity
this
weekend
last
weekend
to
visit
Brighton,
Marine
and
other
cities
doing
excellent
work,
helping
veterans
with
housing
needs
so
I
just
want
to
say
thank
you
to
the
to
Mayor
Walsh
and
his
administration
for
helping
our
veterans,
our
disabled
veterans
and
that's
something
I
would
highly
encourage
for
us
to.
You
know
stay
on
top
of
that
I'm
very
confident
and
the
results
so
far,
so
I
just
wanted
to
pass
along
those
comments
to
you.
Okay,
thank.
B
J
J
This
is
a
regional
problem.
I
mean
Boston,
obviously,
is
a
city
and
we
have
our
political
jurisdictions
and
lines
are
drawn,
but
obviously,
economically
speaking,
both
population-wise
transit
wise,
where
people
work
where
people
live
is
beyond
just
the
city
limits
of
Boston
I'm
I'm
curious
to
see
you
know
where
we
can
go,
I
mean
I'm,
a
big
proponent
of
getting
the
data
first.
So
thank
you
for
this
and
I
think
the
chair
for
her
extensive
questions
beforehand.
J
That's
led
to
a
lot
of
the
data,
but
have
we
seen
in
other
cities,
and
you
know
I
I
always
like
to
say
the
Boston
leads,
but
we're
not
too
proud
to
look
at
what
other
cities
are
doing
on
these
same
issues,
I
mean
how
do
we
address
this
I
mean
obviously
flipping
and
speculation
is
one
aspect
of
our
housing
affordability
issues.
Have
we
seen
other
cities,
you
know
I,
think
of
you
know
New
York,
Los,
Angeles,
even
other
cities
and
towns
in
Massachusetts
that
might
have
taken
steps
on
this.
J
You
know
Seattle
comes
to
mind.
Are
there
folks
that
have
addressed
this
and
but
significant,
whether
it's
fees,
whether
it's?
If
you
do
it
within
12
months
or
18
months,
you
know,
there's
a
tax
burden,
that's
something
we
can
examine
and
if
so,
how
does
the
set
a
home
rule
petitioner?
Is
that
something
this
body
can
do?
That's.
B
Don't
have
you're
right,
we
do.
We
do
talk
to
our
colleagues
and
other
major
high
cus.
Today's
like
every
week,
probably
on
a
problem
and
share
information.
We
typically
are
leading,
but
not
all
the
time
so
I
don't
mind,
doing
a
survey
to
all
of
our
high
cost
cities
to
see
if
they
are,
if
they
are
doing
some
interesting
work
around
flipping
or
convert
condo
conversion.
So
I'd
be
glad
to
do
that
and
pass
on
the
results.
B
Any
change
in
taxes
would
require
a
home
real
petition,
as
you
all
know,
so
we're
we're
pretty
limited
in
what
the
City
Council
can
do
or
the
or
the
administration
can
do
on
its
own.
Any
any
change
in
tax
law
to
require
a
home
real
petition,
but
I
would
be
glad
to
do
some
research
on
these
issues
and
see
what
other
cities
are
doing
and
pass
it
along
and.
J
In
your
judgment
on
a
condo
conversion,
you
know.
Obviously
there
are
cases
where
that
I
mean
that's
leading
to
significant
displacement
and
I
want
to
address
that,
but
is
that
is
the
condo
izing?
If
I
mean
that's
the
proper
verb
of
these
units,
a
significant
driver
and
cost
like
I'm
saying,
if
someone's
paying
$5,000
a
month
in
rent
or
$4,000
a
month
whatever
it
is,
and
you
know
a
fairly
expensive
apartment
and
again
I
was
reading.
I
think
this
is
that
was
this
Cambridge
or
Somerville
that
just
I
think
was
summer.
J
It
was
the
same
story
that
they
just
had
in
the
globe
a
few
days
ago.
That
folks
were
paying
thousands
of
dollars
a
month
and
it
was
converted
and
they
were
saying-
oh
they're
being
displaced-
and
you
know
I'm
sure
it's
inconvenient,
but
folks
were
paying
whatever
four
thousand
dollars
a
month.
Five
thousand
and
rent
or
gonna
be
able
to
find
something
else
like
and
I
realized.
J
C
C
That's
certainly
something
that
you
know
it's
a
big
project,
so
it
gets
a
big
highlight,
but
the
problem
that
we
see
the
most
is
with
these
conversions
of
twos
and
threes,
where
there
are
no
regulations
to
speak
of
so
those
are
kind
of
the
biggest
concern
because
those
tend
to
be
not
downtown
and
it
tends
to
be.
You
know
you
could
see
the
gentrification
of
Jamaica
Plain
happening
through
what
was
going
on
with
three
Decker's
same
thing
now
in
parts
of
Georgia
stir.
So
it
is,
you
know,
a
real
concern
for
us.
C
So,
where
I
stand
sitting
looking
at
the
bigger
projects,
we
are
seeing
projects
that
are
coming
and
who
are
asking
to
convert
from
rental
to
condo,
either
before
or
during
construction.
So,
in
that
respect,
there's
no
displacement.
If
there's
a
project
that
is
seeking
to
do
it
after
construction,
then,
if
there
are
inclusion,
development
policy
units
in
the
building,
those
tenants
are
automatically
income
eligible
for
the
condo
conversion
rule
for
those
higher
protections
and
five-year
notifications.
C
A
K
L
You
for
being
here
and
providing
us
with
all
this
information.
I
am
curious
about
any
longer-range
into
the
past
historical
data
on
the
condo
conversion,
because
just
at
the
three
years
seems
like
such
a
small
snapshot
to
really
see
the
impact
of
this
on
our
neighborhoods
of
you
know
across
the
city.
H
But
we
we
can
do
that.
We
do
know
that
you
know
back
in
the
90s.
The
trend
was
really
large
for
multi
families
being
converted
and
more
recently,
it
has
been
the
smaller
properties
and
tends
to
be
in
the
outlying
neighborhoods
rather
than
in
the
downtown
areas,
but
we
can
do
pull
together
the
longer
term
scope.
That's.
L
You
know
more
homeownership
opportunities
and
and
having
those
that
are
more
invested
in
our
community
through
that
opportunity
for
the
longer
term,
and
it
creates
a
a
more
stable
residency.
Perhaps
so
that
I
think
that
would
be
interesting
and
then
also
you
know
having
a
snapshot
of
what
how
condos
behave
in
different
neighborhoods.
So
are
they
owner
occupied?
Are
they
rental?
Are
they
long-term
rental?
So
if
you
know
someone
starts
with
a
condo
one
neighborhood
and
then
you
know
purchases,
a
I
guess
a
permanent
home
somewhere
else.
L
Are
they
maintaining
ownership
and
it's
turned
into
a
long-term
rental,
which
is
a
good
thing
in
our
neighbor.
If
we
have
long
term
rental
opportunities
for
others
and
for
families
and
so
I
think
it's
it's
a
really
interesting
picture,
but
looking
at
it
just
over
the
course
of
three
years,
I
think
misses
a
lot
of
the
historical
data
that
that
can
be
important
in
in
creating
a
clearer
picture.
When
we
talk
about
the
tax
simple
in
public
implementation
implications,
my
ears
are
loaded
so
I.
My
volume
is
off.
L
L
L
C
A
little
bit
of
a
complicated
question:
we
don't
have
any
exact
data
on
it.
The
it
all
depends
on
kind
of
where
you
set
that
tax.
If
it's
a
1%
or
2%
transfer
tax,
which
is
being
I,
know
that
is
being
contemplated,
the
state
house
for
affordable
housing,
that's
one
thing:
a
15
or
20%
or
30%
tax
on
the
capital
gains
is
one
where
you
have
to
balance
out.
You
know
trying
to
get
flips
to
be
minimized,
but
also
there
are
flips
that
are
beneficial
to
a
neighborhood.
C
If
it's
a
problem
property,
it's
a
vacant
property.
So
it's
getting.
That
right
is
a
good
question
and
we
don't
have
any
models
to
really
follow
on.
I
know
that
a
similar
tax
has
been
proposed
by
state
reps,
from
Brooklyn
to
the
state
of
New
York
and
it's
sitting
in
committee.
So
the
question
is:
would
we
get
much
further
here?
What
would
be
the
answer
here?
I,
don't
know
what,
in.
L
C
Percent
I
think
so
I
think
one
of
the
questions
is:
how
do
you
time
it
I
think
it's
it's
smart
to
think
about
how
you
would
time
it
as
well,
because
if
you
just
do
15%,
you
know
that
in
the
second
year
they're
gonna
just
gonna
wait
another
year
or
then
sell
it
so
and
then
there's
sometimes
income
tax
up
implications
that
encourage
a
flipper
to
sell
a
second
year
as
well.
So
you
would
want
to
do
something
graduated
that
I
think
answered
that
question
of
selling
it
here
now
or
the
next
year.
L
D
That's
something
that
we
are
auditing
every
year,
so
we're
running
data,
picking
candidates
that
have
issues
that
we
say.
Maybe
it's
non
registration
of
cars
in
the
city.
We
can't
find
any
cars.
We
can't
find
any
voting
records.
Things
like
that
that
we
are
auditing
sending
out
secondary
notices
to
and
if
we
don't
get
any
response
from
the
applicant
than
the
residential
exemption
is
pulled.
D
M
You,
madam
chair,
very
grateful
for
your
leadership
and
the
opportunity
to
work
in
partnership
with
you,
along
with
my
other
colleagues
on
the
council.
I
wanted
to
come
back
to
questions
on
the
housing
Boston
2030
plan
I'm,
so
how
many
of
those
units
in
the
pipeline
are
going
to
be
owner-occupied
versus
rentals
I?
Don't.
B
Have
that
I
broke
it
down
by
affordability,
but
we
can
certainly
have
that
we
can
get
that
for
you
and
then
how
many
are
affordable
of
the
26,000
that
have
been
permanent
to
date.
Five
thousand
thirty
five
are
deed,
restricted,
affordable.
That's
roughly
19
point
three
percent
of
the
total.
What
that
doesn't
reflect
counselor
is
units
that
are
in
the
market
that
are
more
affordable,
but
not
necessarily
deed,
restricted,
right.
B
In
fact,
D&D
is
building
a
lot
of
affordable
homeownership.
We
would
like
to
do
even
more
so
we're
looking
at
our
small
sites
where
we've
got
a
lot
of
small
pieces
of
land
and
putting
them
out
in
in
batches
bunches
for
smaller
developers
to
bid
on
and
those
are
being
sold.
2/3
of
those
are
being
sold,
or
sometimes
more
than
that
sometimes
100%
are
being
sold
to
middle-income
homebuyers
and
did.
N
B
B
C
What
she
looks
at
in
terms
of
what
we're
seeing
that
our
agency
we're
seeing
what
market
rate
private
developers
are
bringing
to
market
and
overwhelmingly,
it
seems
that
developers
can
get
financing
for
rentals
easier
than
they
can
for
condominium
buildings
and
also
there's
a
in
some
of
the
neighborhoods
like
Austin
Brighton.
We
there's
no,
that
there's
a
very
large
demand
from
residents
there
for
additional
homeownership
units,
but
developers
are
very
shy
about
creating
buildings
with
a
lot
of
condo
units
that
come
on
the
market.
C
At
one
time,
however,
we
are
beginning
to
see
some
glimmers
of
hope
as
it
were
in
terms
of
more
homeownership
developments
coming
through.
Like
I
mentioned
some
of
these
smaller
developments
in
places
like
East,
Boston
and
South
Boston
are
coming
to
us
and
saying
we
originally
want
to
do
rental.
Now
we
want
to
do
condos.
We
see
that
as
a
good
movement.
Also
in
trying
to
be
more
creative
with
the
inclusionary
development
policy.
C
We
have
a
couple
of
developers
in
Brighton
who
are
planning
in
part
because
they
have
lots
that
are
very
unusually
shaped
where
they
can
put
two
buildings
on
it.
They're
doing
one
building,
that's
all
rental
in
one
building:
that's
home
ownership
with
many
of
those
home
ownership
units
being
income
restricted
at
those
eighty
and
a
hundred
percent
levels.
So
trying
to
meet
that
homeownership
demand
so
trying
to
be
really
creative
with
the
IDP
to
provide
more
opportunities
for
wealth
building
and.
C
M
C
And
foremost,
it's
an
inclusionary
development
policy.
At
the
moment
it's
not
actually
built
into
zoning,
so
one
of
our
goals
is
to
actually
build
this
into
zoning
and
as
part
of
that
process,
we
would
re-examine
what
we
are
able
to
acquire
from
developers
in
different
neighborhoods.
We
do
have
a
very
a
diverse
city
in
terms
of
the
economy
of
the
different
neighborhoods.
C
We
have
downtown
developers
who
are
building
very
high-end
apartments
and
condos,
and
we
have
other
areas
of
the
city
where
it's
almost
infeasible
to
build
anything
new,
because
the
rents
are
so
dramatically
different
from
those
outer
neighborhoods
to
downtown
neighborhoods.
So
we
would
be
looking
to
see
at
what
we
could
get
in
various
parts
of
the
city,
similar
to
what
we
did.
C
C
Are
other
cities
that
do
more
than
13%?
We
know
that
Cambridge
has
recently
increased
theirs
to
20%.
We
are
carefully
watching
to
see
what
theirs
does
and
again,
I
think
it's
important
that
we
recognize
that
we
do
have
basically
more
than
one
kind
of
economy
in
the
city,
so
we'd
be
looking
at
different
policies
for
different
parts
of
the
city
and.
C
Are
a
very
priety
of
approaches
to
it
and
we
will
be
looking
at
that
more
as
we
go
forward.
The
70%
ami
that
we
have
at
the
moment
was
created
in
part
with
an
understanding
that
there
are
programs
and
buildings
that
are
already
in
existence
for
people,
thirty
and
fifty
and
sixty
percent.
But
there
was
nothing
available
for
my
family's
making
between
sixty
and
seventy.
So
the
goal
was
to
meet
a
part
of
the
market
that
is
not
eligible
for
those
units
but
also
are
struggling
to
find
affordable
homeownership
across
the
city
or
rental.
M
In
terms
of
the
population
growth
I
think
there
were
earlier
questions
around
the
population
growth.
How
fast
is
the
building
boom
keeping
pace
with,
because
it
seems
to
me
that
we're
still
in
this
constant,
you
know
high
demand
for
housing
and
limited
stock,
and
so
if
the
new
housing
that's
coming
up
is
unattainable
for
folks
who
live
in
a
city
they're
still
struggling,
and
it
seems
that
other
folks
are
moving
to
our
city.
So
how?
How
fat
is
the
housing
stock
of
the
housing
boom?
B
On
our
original
projections
and
I
can
get
you
the
exact
numbers
we
were
gaining
on
our
housing
shortage.
We
weren't
there,
yet
we
still
had
a
shortage,
hence
the
tight
bacon,
C
rate,
but
that's
why
we
want
to
look
at
the
projections
again
because
the
population
may
be
growing
faster
than
we
originally
had
anticipated.
M
N
M
H
And
you
know:
we'd
have
to
go
into
the
individual
LLC's
and
try
to
figure
figure
that
out.
Llc's
are
very
commonly
used
and
so
I
think
Tim
was
mentioning
that
even
the
CDC's
often
will
use
an
LLC
for
individual
properties.
So
it
takes
a
lot
of
a
lot
of
research
to
really
determine
well
what
the
ownership
is.
Basically,
it's
a
one-by-one
look
up
in
the
corporation's
database.
O
Thank
you,
councillor
Edwards,
and
thank
you
for
cheering
this
hearing.
Thank
you
all
for
being
here,
Thank
You
chief
for
the
work
that
you
do
and
Tim
as
well
for
the
work
that
you
do
and
Bob
for
the
research
which
is
important
and
Gayle
welcome
and
congrats
on
a
new
role.
I
just
want
to
sort
of
taking
in
everyone's
questions.
O
I
know:
we've
started
the
hearing
with
a
whole
host
of
questions
that
I
think
were
sent
beforehand
to
try
to
get
at
the
nature
of
the
problem,
particularly
around
speculation.
I
think
what
you're
seeing
out
of
this
hearing
is
that
there
are
different
problems,
of
course,
they're
all
interrelated
to
this
idea
of
equity,
displacement,
affordability,
etc.
O
Obviously,
you
guys
don't
necessarily
have
the
human
capital,
the
resources
who
knows
what
the
limitations
might
be
within
your
respective
departments,
to
really
pull
apart
each
problem
that
we
continue
to
address
in
the
housing
context,
and
not
just
to
talk
about,
of
course,
for
problems
which
we
many
of
us
in
this
room,
and
particularly
the
advocates
are
fully
aware
of
and
they
are
dealing
with
on
a
daily
basis.
But
what
are
the
problems?
What
are
the
all
the
proposed
solutions
and
out
of
those
discussions
and
out
of
that
data
and
out
of
those
stories?
O
We
may
not
agree
on
all
the
recommendations,
but
they
are
least
on
the
table.
So
right
now
and
said
well,
I
think
frustrates
me.
A
little
bit
is
that
we
keep
coming
to
the
conversations
with
an
idea
or
two,
whether
it's
the
CPA
or
just
cause
eviction
legislation
or
some
other
innovative
and
creative
ideas,
but
they
seem
to
be
operating
instead
of
together
and
in
a
timing
scheme
around
each
or
how
one
might
inform
the
other.
O
So
it
really
is
a
partnership,
it's
conversation
so
that
we
come
out
of
it
with
a
report
of
recommendations
shared
by
everyone.
You
know
I
know
that
we
have
the
housing
plan.
I
was
not.
You
know,
part
of
intimately
involved
in
those
conversations,
so
their
ideas
and
in
ways
in
which
to
do
things
that
I
agree
with
and
then
or
others
I
want
to
know
more.
O
We
had
folks
from
different
spaces
with
different
interests:
the
city,
the
council,
all
in
one
space,
trying
to
come
up
with
solutions
on
some
complicated
issues,
but
at
least
I
think
people
felt
like
they're
a
part
of
the
conversation
and
we're
all
in
agreement
as
to
where
we
think
we
want
to
go.
And
it's
just
it's
it's.
It's
flushing
out
the
details,
but
it's
not
in
a
sort
of
one-off
situation.
So
that's
sort
of
what
I'm
taking
out
of
this
and
pretty
in
previous
conversation,.
B
If
I
could
respond,
I
think
we're
thinking
along
the
same
lines.
The
housing
plan
was
pretty
extensive
and
in
it,
and
it
really
touched
on
resources
and
land
and
protections
and
I
think
it
was
very
comprehensive.
It's
been
three
years
so
we're
starting
now
to
look
at
all
of
the
data
anew
in
in
house,
but
with
ma
pcs
help
and
we,
the
Advisory,
was
about
40
groups.
Tenant
advocates,
real
estate
developers
and
you
know
nonprofits,
and
we
plan
on
bringing
them
back
together
in
May
to
really
look
at.
B
What's
worked,
what
hasn't,
what
what
have
we
missed?
What
should
we
be
doing
in
new?
Are
the
numbers?
The
right
numbers
are
the
goals,
the
right
numbers,
etc.
So
I
I'd
love,
you're
thinking
in
this
process.
If
others
want
to
be
involved
I,
you
know
the
large
the
table
that
better,
so
that
I
think
we
would
like
to
you
know,
look
at
the
housing
plan
again
to
see
how
you
know
to
see
whether
it
needs
revisions.
B
What
what
I
would
welcome,
though,
is
you
know,
I
do
think
the
some
of
the
Airbnb
conversations
have
been
very
good.
The
IDP
process,
originally
was
very,
very
good.
We
don't
want
to
do,
is
dissipate
in
a
shout
out,
I,
don't
think
those
are
particularly
helpful.
You
know
I
really
want
to
have
a
robust
conversation
with
with
both
advocates,
and
you
know
real
estate
professionals
to
find
out
what
would
have
the
largest
impact.
Not
just
you
know
so
so.
I'd
welcome
a
very
robust
new
conversation
about
all
of
these
matters.
O
I
know
that
maybe
every
councillor
probably
can't
participate
in
those
conversations,
but
we
have
committees
for
a
reason
right.
We
have
folks
who
are
assigned
to
committees
because
of
their
unique
passions,
their
unique
backgrounds.
So,
even
if
it's
some
folks
on
the
council,
taking
the
lead
with
respect
to
our
colleagues
and
keeping
us
abreast,
I
think
that
works
but
I
agree
with
you.
I
think
it
is
a
great
time
to
revisit
some
of
this
only
because
of
just
at
least
in
the
housing
context.
O
We
are
talking
about
different
pieces
and
we're
seeing
other
municipalities,
whether
in
the
state
or
across
the
country,
doing
different
things.
Whether
it's
related
to
IDP
or
short-term
rentals,
so
how
do
we
have
some
of
these
conversations
at
the
same
time
and
and
where
folks,
at
least
on
this
side
or
kept
abreast
or
looped
in
in
a
meaningful
way,
because
the
frustration
I
have
sometimes
I
think
maybe
my
some
of
my
colleagues
would
agree.
O
Is
we're
not
privy
to
all
those
conversations
because
we're
focusing
on
different
subject
matters,
but
it's
equally
important
and
then
we
don't
get
to
it
until
it's
time
for
us
to
take
a
vote
or
to
do
something.
So
how
do
we
allow
some
of
our
colleagues
on
this
side
to
participate
in
meaningful
way
with
you
guys
so.
B
Thank
you.
We
would
welcome
that.
Certainly,
we
know
councillor
Edwards
well
and
we're
getting
to
know
councillor
Jani
and
we're
definitely
keep
them
involved
in
this
process.
Just
one
other
quick
question
or
what
a
quick
comment
we
have
sat
down
with
the
director
and
co-director
of
the
joint
Center
at
Harvard
on
housing.
We've
sat
down
with
all
the
MIT
housing
professionals
and
said
to
them.
You
know,
look
at
what
we're
doing
critique.
B
O
You
know
just
in
with
with
one
last
point,
which
is
just
sort
of
given
the
new
role
that
I
have
it's.
It
is
important
to
me
to
make
sure
that
the
council
in
this
body
is
trained
in
this
in
the
idea
of
equity
and
what
that
means
for
the
city
of
Boston
and
what
it
means
to
look
at
an
issue
through
that
lens,
and
so,
as
we
are
talking
about
in
the
city
and
I'm,
looking
to
sort
of
get
my
colleagues
trained
through
that
it's
happening
everywhere.
O
It
seems
across
the
country
bringing
that
into
the
conversation
as
well,
because
it
may
require
at
some
points
in
the
conversation
for
us
to
through
an
equity
lens,
make
a
different
decision
that
may
not
align
with,
say
the
financial
lens
or
some
other
perspective
cost
containments.
Some
other
perspective
or
some
other
lens.
I'm
so
just
pushing
us
as
a
body
to
make
sure
that
equity
is
also
at
the
forefront
in
those
conversations
as
well.
So.
O
A
Q
Introducing
this
incredibly
important
and
increasingly
more
timely
hearing
order-
and
thank
you,
ladies
and
gentlemen,
commissioner,
we
haven't
met
yet,
but
welcome
and
congratulations
on
your
new
position
look
forward
to
working
with
you
and
Chief
Dylan.
Thank
you
for
your
great
work.
Thank
you
and
your
opening
remarks.
You
reference
the
fact
that
we
currently
have
no
mechanism
for
collecting
vacancy
data.
Well,
I
am
and
counselor
Campbell
aims
to
help
you
with
that,
with
a
herring
order,
we're
doing
introducing
tomorrow
before
the
council
the
talks
about
a
vacancy
fee.
Q
I
want
to
be
brief,
because
I
think
it's
more
important
today
to
hear
from
some
of
the
folks
who've
been
affected.
I
want
to
tell
you
why
there
how
this
has
affected
me.
It's
April
3rd
and
in
2018,
already
I've
been
dealing
with
two
major
speculation
proposed
flips
in
Jamaica
Plain,
the
one
that
I'll
just
briefly
get
into.
Without
too
many
specifics.
There
was
a
longtime,
25-year
restaurant,
an
auto
body
shop
that
had
been
purchased
by
a
larger
landlord
in
Jamaica
Plain.
Q
We
worked
with
them
with
help
from
your
office
and
others
to
try
to
figure
out
a
place
to
help
the
restaurant.
This
incredible
small,
locally
owned
and
operated
minority-owned
business,
a
real,
incredibly
important
place
to
me,
and
so
so
many
of
my
neighbors.
We
actually
thought
we
had
a
good
faith
from
working
arrangement
and
then
I
found
out
that
the
building
was
put
on
listed
on
Craigslist
on
Friday
of
last
week.
I
was
the
first
I
had
heard
about
it.
First
I
think
many
in
the
city
had
heard
about
it.
Q
This
was
a
relatively
new
building
purchased
by
an
entity
they
owned,
it
I
believe
for
a
year.
Perhaps
less
so
maybe
a
little
bit
more,
but
not
a
long
period
of
time,
and
it's
now
being
hundreds
of
thousands
of
dollars
more
being
listed
than
what
they
paid
for
it.
No
monies
been
put
into
it
as
far
as
I
know,
but
I
mean
I
haven't
been
inside
all
of
it,
but
it
is
a
textbook
example
of
speculation.
Q
Secondly,
and
you're
going
to
hear
from
some
later
we've
seen
artists
displaced
in
Jamaica,
Plain
and
chief
I
want
to.
Thank
you
specifically.
This
is
an
issue
that
we
were
working
on
with
the
residents
beginning
and
the
follower
fall
early
winter
of
last
year.
Again,
we
seem
to
make
some
progress.
We
can't
deal
with
these
issues
on
a
one-to-one
off
basis,
but
it's
really
been
the
only
way
we've
been
able
to.
Q
We
seem
to
have
some
sort
of
at
least
a
plan
in
place,
or
at
least
a
way
to
attack
the
the
issue
and
save
these.
These
artists
working
space,
the
proposed
developers,
seem
to
pull
back
a
bit,
but
then
reemerged
this
year
and
the
building
is
being
emptied
out.
As
we
speak,
one
thing
that
I
did
and
and
continue
to
do
and
will
reiterate
here
and
I,
don't
presume
to
speak
for
you,
but
I
know
you
did
here,
and
this
is
the
point
of
my
question.
Slash
statement
is:
how
can
we
make
it
crystal
clear?
Q
You
know
the
condo
conversion
piece
was
very
important
and
that
deals
with
it,
but
what
I'm
seeing
is
an
increased
commercial
and
light
industrial
units
that
are
being
flipped
for
residential.
So
it's
not
the
same
as
displacing
someone
who's
living
there,
but
maybe
displacing
a
business
or
in
just
in
these
cases.
How
can
we
use
the
tools
of
Zoning
to
prevent
a
or
to
work
and
to
protect
some
of
these
places?
Q
In
other
words,
when
we
were
dealing
with
the
artists,
we
both
said
we're
not
going
to
you
know
to
the
proposed
own
or
we're
not
going
to
support
any
changes
at
the
Zoning
Board
of
Appeals,
because
until
and
unless
you
can
work
away
with
these
with
these
residents,
I
don't
know
if
they're
going
to
roll
the
dice
anyway,
I
don't
know
if
they
feel
as
though
they'll
get
it
done.
But
what
can
we
do
from
a
zoning
point
of
view
to
sort
of
protect
displacement,
of
not
only
individuals
and
residences,
but
businesses
as
well.
B
I
well
I
you're,
raising
a
very
a
very
good
point.
I
mean
that
these
artists
and
commercial
spaces
are
the
fabric
of
our
neighborhoods,
and
while
I
mean
we
don't
want
like
any
displacement,
those
are
equally
tragic.
I
believe
I,
think
you
know
knowing
what
is
happening
on
the
ground
and
you
do
the
councillor.
The
council's
know
what's
happening
on
the
ground.
I
think
following
the
development
process
is,
is
key
here.
B
It
is
one
tool
that
we
have
in
an
you
know:
an
unregulated
space
and
I,
don't
see
beyond
using
zoning.
How
we
do
regulate
that
private
property
rights
in
this
country
are
very,
very
strong,
so
I
don't
see,
I,
don't
see
how
to
regulate
that
outside
of
really
discussing
the
future
use
of
the
building
yeah.
No.
Q
I
think
that's
fair
and
I
and
I
think
that's
that's
one
of
the
more
difficult
things
in
these
two
instances
you
have
Jamaica
Plain,
which
isn't
often
unified
on
many
issues
of
development,
seems
to
be
unified.
On
this
and
I
know
we
are
as
well
and
we'll
continue
to
stand
with.
The
small
businesses
will
continue
to
stand
with
the
artists
and
and
really
it's
important.
We
hear
from
some
more
folks
who
are
affected
so
I'll
leave
it
at
that
and
madam
chair.
Q
C
Oh
now,
I'd
like
to
follow
up
on
cheela
statement:
I,
don't
work
in
the
planning
section
of
the
agency,
but
the
Planning
section
does
get
a
chance
to
review
anything,
that's
going
before
the
CBA
and
does
make
recommendations
and
sometimes
we're
making
recommendations
to
not.
You
know
approve
something,
but
we
don't
control
the
CBA,
so
sometimes
they'll
go
ahead
and
approve
something.
We
also
have
fewer
tools
at
our
disposal
when
it's
a
smaller
project,
so
units
projects
are
specifically
doing
nine
units.
Q
Tim
I
appreciate
that
and
and
I
appreciate
the
great
work
you've
done.
I
would
just
say
that
every
there
it
can
be
a
laborious
process
for
summat.
If
you
want
to
build
a
shed,
it's
a
laborious
process,
a
dormer
on
your
home.
Some
would
argue
too
laborious.
In
those
cases,
I
would
simply
say,
as
it
comes
to
grappling
with
not
only
displacement,
not
only
gentrification,
not
only
specular,
buying
and
property
or
vacancy.
Q
As
a
city,
we
need
to
send
a
clear
message,
and
this
is
an
anti
businesses
as
an
anti
development,
but
when
you
are
displacing
someone
either
from
their
residents
or
their
place
of
work,
we
need
to
speak
with
a
united
voice
saying
this.
Thing's
steps
need
to
be
taken.
We
need
to
be
holistic
as
we
approach
this.
We
need
to
really
work
to
maintain
the
fabric
of
the
city,
which
is
diverse,
not
only
racially
diverse,
but
socioeconomically
diverse
as
well.
So
we'll
continue
to
do
that.
I
know.
Q
A
C
Area
median
income
is
based
on
Greater
Boston,
and
it's
established
by
HUD.
The
current
median
family
income
for
Greater
Boston
is
one
hundred
and
seven
thousand
eight
hundred,
which
assumes
the
CEG's
family
size
of
for
the
median
family
income
for
Boston
specifically,
is
sixty
eight
thousand
six
hundred,
as
we
have
typically
smaller
families.
It's
often
best
to
compare
it
to
the
area
median
income
of
three,
which
is
ninety
seven
thousand
or
fifty
dollars.
So
at
that
point
you
could
say
that
Boston's
median
income
is
about
seventy
one
percent
of
the
federally
designated
area.
C
Median
income
ami
is
required
for
federally
and
state
funded
programs,
and
it
provides
a
common
measuring
stick
much
as
we
use
Fahrenheit
instead
of
instead
of
Celsius.
In
that
respect.
For
programs
that
are
specifically
City
programs,
we
are
allowed
to
set
income
limits
along
this
measuring
stick
to
meet
particular
needs
of
the
city.
C
C
C
A
C
C
Measuring
two
different
things:
one
is
measuring
family
income
and
one
is
measuring
what
someone
is
actually
kind
of
taking
home
from
one
job.
So
I
don't
know
where
the
there
is
a
disconnect
there,
but
in
terms
of
the
data,
those
are
basically
looking
at
an
individual's
earned
income
versus
a
family's
income.
So.
A
I
guess
my
concern
is
that,
when
we're
looking
at
families
or
units
versus
individuals,
there
are
a
lot
of
single-parent
how
I
come
from
single-parent
households
right
that
that
$35,000
would
mean
just
my
mom,
and
so
it
means
a
lot
of
other
parents
or
grandparents
or
whomever
are
raising
their
kids.
So
when
we
talk
in
terms
of
family
units
or
or
income,
107,000
are
looking
at
all
of
the
income
earners
and
we're
planning
that
way.
Are
we
unintentionally
planning
for
the
exclusion
of
single-parent
households?
Are
we
are
we
even
considering
them
as
a
priority?
B
So
I
mean
there
are
a
lot
of
single
one
parent
families
in
Boston,
certainly
and
and
the
vast
majority
of
what
we're
funding
are
rental
projects
where
the
incomes
for
you
know
are
somewhere
and
though
in
the
50,
you
know
51
to
58
thousand
range
when
I
look
at
60%
ami
they're,
two
and
three
family,
two
and
three
person
households.
So
it's
it's
most
common,
probably
to
see
our
funded
projects
targeting
you
know
the
the
households
that
are
making
about
50
we
in
this
last
funding
round.
B
We
did
give
additional
points
for
developments
that
had
more
50
percent
am
eyes,
and
so
that's
the
4348
person.
You
know
forty
eight
thousand
range,
so
we've
we've
heard
a
lot
of
the
advocates
talk
about
that
where
are
affordable
to
whom,
like
we
should
make
it
more
affordable,
and
so
we
are
starting
to
see
our
nonprofit
developers
respond
to
that
and
in
every
development
we
have
at
least
10%
set
aside
for
30%
am
eyes.
B
So
we
are
trying
to
push
down
the
incomes
of
projects
that
we
are
funding,
but
we
also
want
to
find
affordable
homeownership
because
we
realize
that
people
want
to
buy
and
middle
income
or
more
moderate
income.
Families
want
to
buy
so
we
are
spending
some
affordable
housing
resources,
creating
affordable,
homeownership
and
those
are
higher
incomes
could.
A
You
talk
a
little
bit
about
the
difference
between
being
affordable
and
being
cost
burdened.
There
are
a
lot
of
folks
who
are
paying
more
than
30%
of
their
income
for
rent
and
how
are
you
planning
for
to
help
or
to
help
alleviate
that
burden
how's
the
city?
Looking
at
that
and
isn't
it
our
goal,
hopefully
to
reduce
the
amount
of
people
who
are
cost
burden
in
there?
So.
B
I
just
want
to
make
you
aware,
I
mentioned
in
my
remarks,
but
I
want
to
bring
it
home.
We
are
requesting
to
the
state
right
now
because
we're
building
a
lot
of
wonderful,
affordable
housing,
and
we
really
do
want
to
target
families
and
households
that
are
right
now,
rent
burdened
because,
while
we're
putting
a
lot
of
resources
into
creating
new,
affordable
housing,
sometimes
the
people
that
are
getting
those
units
that
they
could
be
in
an
affordable
housing
unit
right
now
and
be
ok
or
be
in
BHA
housing.
B
So
we're
saying
to
the
state
led
us
in
it
won't
violate
fair
housing.
If
we
can
set
aside
at
least
a
third
of
the
units
of
the
new,
affordable,
affordable
housing
for
families
and
households
that
are
rent
burdened
and
so
they're.
Looking
at
that,
I
think
we're
going
to
get
a
good,
a
good
ruling
on
this
and
I'm
hoping
we
can
implement
that
in
the
near
future.
D
C
Of
the
challenges
we
have
is
that
kind
of
in
the
industry
in
the
housing
industry
in
general,
the
term
affordable,
is
reused
for
anything,
that's
income
restricted,
and
so
we
kind
of
get
caught
in
a
trap
where
we
say
something
is
affordable.
When
we
mean
it's
income
restricted
when
it
is
actually
different,
programs
are
affordable
to
different
income
groups.
That's
part
of
the
challenge,
so
under
HUD
guidelines
they
consider
affordability
is
around.
30%
of
income
is
being
paid
towards
housing.
C
C
So,
even
though
there's
this,
you
know,
you're
considered
cost
burden,
but
we're
gonna
still
let
you
do
it,
and
so
that's
why
I
think
when
I
look
at
the
data
I
like
to
look
at
each
segment
of
it,
how
many
are
above
30%
of
their
income
towards
rent?
How
many
are
above
35%?
But
then
we
do
have
the
measure
of
severely
cost
burden,
which
is
when
people
are
paying
more
than
50%.
H
A
B
That's
correct,
just
I
think
when
we
think
about
cost
per
and
the
people
that
we're
really
worried
about
is
you
know,
lower-income
families
with
kids
or
elderly,
not
so
much
students
or
people
that
want
to
live
right,
downtown
and
and
pay
a
lot
of
money,
because
all
the
amenities
are
there.
So
it's
just
a
it's
a
measure
that
needs.
You
know
a
little
bit
more
than
by
choices
right.
A
A
Know,
there's
their
families
helping
it's
not
permanent
yep,
so
just
wanted
to
include
our
newest
Commissioner
and
a
couple
questions
I
apologize.
Thank
you
for
sitting.
I
just
wanted
to
make
sure
I
asked
the
questions
that
we
had
I
think
submitted.
Also
in
advance,
I
was
particularly
did
we
talked
about
the
resident
exemptions.
Did
you
have
the
numbers
of
property
owners
who
are
claiming
that.
D
M
D
It's
I
mean
what
we
do
is
we
audit
we
send
out
compliance
specifically.
We
look
at
people
who
have
lived
in
units
for
more
than
ten
years
or
lived
in
the
property
for
more
than
ten
years.
We'll
also
look
at
rental
data.
Will
pull
MLS
listings
of
what
units
are,
what
condo
units
are
being
rented
we'll
focus
on
certain
areas
of
the
city,
certain
types
of
properties,
but
it's
something
that
we
are
always
looking
at.
So.
A
This
is
kind
of
a
two-part
question
where
I
think
Tim
might
answer
the
first
part,
and
you
might
answer
the
second,
but
knowing
that
our
Boston,
we
have
a
BMI
Boston
medium
income
of
about
68,000
per
household,
though,
with
this
the
35,000
still
kind
of
out
there
I
think
that
includes
students,
that's
possibly
why
that
might
be
a
little
bit
lower.
But
have
you
considered
building
towards
that?
A
Just
the
BMI
and
I
understand
it
could
be
a
percentage
on
the
ami,
but
just
really
talking
to
developers
in
that
language
of
the
BMI
and
then
to
the
Assessor?
Have
you
considered
or
would
the
city
consider
tax
breaks
for
property
owners
who
are
renting
if
they
were
to
rent
at
I?
Don't
know
a
lower
amount
below
the
beer
to
attract
folks
who
are
making
the
average
Boston
income?
Is
there
any
kind
of
balance
or
way
to
think
if
it's
not
just
punishment,
but
incentives
for
lowering
rents
for
property
owners?
A
C
I'll
answer:
first,
since
you
posed
it
that
way,
I
think
you're,
asking
that
BPD
is
an
agency
as
much
as
during
the
development
review
process
in
terms
of
British
print
programming
that
we're
really
encouraging
developers
to
build
for
even
market
rate
housing
that
is
affordable
to
families
who
are
at
the
Boston's
median
income.
I.
Think
that's
what
you're
asking
again.
Construction
costs
are
very
high
and
increasing
land
costs
are
also
high.
C
A
D
A
D
It
were
recorded
with
the
deed
that
it
is
a
covenant
on
the
property.
Then
we
would
be
able
to
reflect
it,
but
legally,
we
cannot
reflect
something
that
is
someone's
choice
to
do
so
if
they
don't
record
that
it
is
a
covenant
on
the
property
that
it
is
an
affordable
unit
or
they
are
doing
affordable
rentals,
that's
not
something
that
legally.
We
can
reflect
that
if
it's
just
someone's
choice
to
do
that.
So.
A
I
think
this
is
partly
off
of
the
research
we
did
on
a
tax
credit
on
the
income
taxes
right
that
we
filed
in
the
state
that
the
DND
yeah.
So
maybe
we
will
just
do
some
follow-up
research
on
how
that
could
be
implemented
at
the
city
level
on
city
taxes.
Just
for
your
little
background,
information
di
or
the
Walsh
administration
filed
a
tax
credit
legislation
that,
if,
if
landlords
were
to
keep
their
rent
below
the
ami
or
below
affordable
unit,
rent
I'm,
sorry
yeah
below.
A
A
B
We
work
with
des
and
I
with
some
frequency
I
think
we're
out
there
every
couple
of
weeks,
so
we
love
land
trusts.
We
would
love
to
dispose
of
land
into
a
Land
Trust.
We
just
have
to
find
nonprofits
that
want
to
put
their
developments
into
a
Land,
Trust
and
and
in
some
neighborhoods
like
the
Chinatown
Chinatown.
Now
has
a
land,
trust
and,
and
that's
wonderful.
We
don't
really
own
any
land
in
Chinatown,
so
I
think
it's
just
finding
the
right
readings,
but
we
have
nothing
against
putting
our
land
into
development
into
land,
trust
and.
A
Then,
in
terms
of
the
B
PDA
and
what
we've
been
seeing
in
some
buildings
and
as
they're
coming
up,
these
new
buildings
are
setting
aside
units
for
short-term
rentals
and
so
I
was
wondering
about
in
the
permitting
process.
Would
you
be
able
to
find
that
out
in
when
do
you
find
that
out
that
there's
a
building,
that's
coming
up,
that
you've
just
been
permitting
and
moving
and
all
of
a
sudden
that
they're
filling
twenty
of
the
hundred
units
with
short-term
rentals?
Do
you
even
find
that
out?
Well.
C
We
do
not
find
that
actually,
during
the
development
review
process
at
all,
it's
something
that's
happening
after
the
building
is
opening
or
they're
about
to
open,
and
then
they
lease
out
the
units,
and
these
are
in
private
market
buildings.
So
we
don't
have
the
regulatory
ability
to
regulate
that
at
this
time.
That's
why
we're
looking
forward
to
what
the
City
Council
comes
out
with
around
short-term
rentals,
because
then
that
could
help
us
as
well
to
regulate
that
in
terms
of
properties
that
are
building
that
are
on
BPD
ale.
C
And
yes,
we
have
more
regulatory
ability
to
on
that
point,
but
also
if
it
is
a
inclusionary
development
policy
unit,
whether
it's
a
rental
or
homeownership
unit,
we
can
have
a
tenant
evicted
who
is
using
their
unit
for
air
B&B.
We
can
also
ask
an
owner
of
a
inclusionary
development
policy
unit
to
sell
their
unit
if
they
are
in
fact
using
the
Airbnb,
and
we
have
done
so
for
both
rentals
and
ownership
units.
Thank.
A
B
R
Can
go
ahead?
Okay,
great
I,
just
press
this
on
her.
Can
you
hear
me?
Okay,
great
so
good
afternoon,
everyone?
My
name
is
again:
Mimi
Ramos
I'm,
the
executive
director
with
New
England
United
for
justice
and
I'm,
really
honored
to
be
here
today,
representing
over
60
allies
from
across
the
city,
known
as
the
right
to
remain
coalition.
R
I'm
also
gonna,
say:
I
am
a
proud
Dorchester
resident
I've
lived
in
Boston
for
many
years,
and
my
family
have
known
Boston
to
be
their
home
for
most
of
their
life.
My
family
has
roots
in
up
in
this
corner:
Savin,
Hill
fields,
corner
and
now
a
smart
where
I
currently
live
so
again.
I
just
want
to
say
it's
an
honor
to
be
here.
I
first
also
want
to
start
off
by
thanking
city,
councilors,
Edwards
and
Cheney
for
hosting
this
important
hearing
today.
R
We
know
the
history
of
our
city.
For
decades,
many
of
our
neighborhoods
had
been
disinvested
in
due
to
issues
of
redlining
blockbusting
and
racial
discrimination
residents
and
small
businesses
organized
they
fought
and
they
stayed
to
make
our
communities
vibrant
and
now
speculators
want
to
take
advantage
of
what
we
have
built
in
order
to
profit.
R
The
issue
of
housing
in
Boston
has
spun
out
of
control
and
we
see
the
impacts
of
housing
and
here
the
stories
of
what
families
are
going
through
day
to
day.
We
know
that
something
is
not
right.
In
our
city,
the
issue
of
housing
to
many
of
us
in
the
room
is
a
humans
rights
issue.
It's
also
a
civil
rights
issue
and
really
many
of
us
view.
Boston
is
currently
being
responsible
for
the
resegregate
of
our
city,
a.
R
Lot
of
you
know
me
so
I'm
gonna
just
be
honest
and
say
I'm,
not
here
as
an
expert,
although
I
am
gonna
share
some
of
what
we
know
and
we
have
allies
that
are
in
the
room
that
we'll
share
other
important
information
today,
but
I'm
here
to
talk
about
people
to
talk
about
the
families
who
are
seniors.
Who
are
the
youth
in
our
communities,
working
people
in
families
who
are
struggling
every
single
day?
We
want
to
set
shed
a
little
bit
of
light
on
what
we
know
now.
R
So
yes,
we're
here,
because
we're
concerned
with
the
lack
of
regulations
on
speculators
and
people
with
deep
pockets
who
are
coming
into
our
Boston
and
flipping
housing
in
our
neighborhoods
speculation
to
many
of
us
in
the
room,
means
buying
or
selling
real
estate
in
a
hot
market
at
an
inflated
price
for
the
purpose
of
maximizing
financial
gain.
It's
also
increasingly
in
Boston
speculative
trading
involves
buying
and
then
reselling
properties
in
a
short
period
of
time.
This
kind
of
trading,
this
kind
of
trading,
often
involves
the
evictions
of
tenants
in
our
communities.
R
We
are
seeing
a
rise
in
speculative
activity.
Many
of
our
housing
organizations
here
today
know
to
mark
and
rise
speculative
trading
in
the
housing
market,
and
we've
been
paying
attention
to
it
for
the
past
several
years,
so
I'm
going
to
present
just
a
few
examples
of
what
we
are
seeing
in
Dorchester
and
also
in
Jamaica
Plain
to
very
different
communities
in
Dorchester
on
Wilcox
Street,
a
three
family
sold
in
2014
for
360,000.
R
Now
it's
on
the
market
for
over
1.2
million
the
rents
which
are
four-bedroom
averaged
about
thirty
three
hundred
and
twenty
seven
hundred
on
Harvard
Park,
a
three
family
sold
in
2017
for
four
hundred
and
twenty
three
thousand
and
sold
again
in
2018
for
six
hundred
and
eighteen
thousand,
we
don't
see
any
rents
listed
yet
a
nightingale
Street,
a
family
sold
in
2013.
For
about
thirty.
R
Two
thousand
excuse
me:
thirty
two,
you
know
what
I
mean
three
thousand
two
hundred
and
then
sold
it
again
for
about
four
hundred
and
ninety
five
thousand
two
then
get
flipped
again
for
now
over
seven
hundred
thousand.
These
are
just
some
examples
of
really
what
we're
paying
attention
to
in
our
neighborhoods
and
Jamaica
Plain.
You
heard
other
councillors
talk
about
some
stories
and
we
have
some
amazing
folks
today
from
the
community
who
are
going
to
share
more
about
their
experiences
as
residents
and
as
well
as
business
owners.
R
So
I
don't
want
to
take
too
much
time
on
that.
But
I
will
talk
about
two.
That
I
think
is
really
important
in
Jamaica
Plain
at
around
3200
Washington
Street
it
sold
for
three
million
in
2014
and
then
after
the
developer
got
approvals
to
build
luxury
housing
on
the
land
it
sold
again
in
2016
for
6.2
million
at
197
Green
Street.
This
parcel
is
home
to
the
iconic
graffiti
house.
The
exterior
of
this
single-family
house
has
been
painted
top
to
bottom
by
graffiti
artists.
R
It's
beautiful
if
you've
never
stopped
by
most
people,
don't
know
the
story
behind
this
house
as
part
of
the
sale
of
the
property.
It's
a
City,
Realty
Group,
the
longtime,
the
longtime,
low-income
residents
here
were
evicted.
Meanwhile,
nothing
has
been
developed
on
the
property
for
almost
a
year
and
a
half.
Now
this
house
has
been
baked
vacant,
and
now
in
2018,
City
Realty
has
listed
the
abutting
parcels
for
2.9
million
I
don't
want
to
go
on
and
on,
because
I
think.
R
It's
really
really
important
to
hear
from
the
folks
that
are
here
from
the
community
directly,
but
I
do
want
to
say
that
if
we
don't
regulate
speculation,
it
is
going
to
continue
to
be
a
driver
of
displacement.
This
is
not
new.
We've
been
talking
about
this
for
a
few
years
now,
and
we
need
to
really
be
bold
and
also
really
consider
the
timing
of
our
action
so
I'm
glad
that
was
brought
up
a
couple
of
times
today.
R
The
council
is
clear
that
Boston
is
in
the
in
the
middle
of
a
dramatic
displacement
crisis.
We
see
this
crisis
as
being
linked
to
unregulated
speculative
activity,
new
development
projects
that
don't
meet
the
needs
of
our
neighborhoods
and
the
people
that
live
here
and
buy
a
gap
in
the
number
of
truly
available,
affordable
units
that
meet
the
need
of
our
neighborhoods
without
a
comprehensive
set
of
policy
and
programmatic
solutions.
We're
gonna
continue
to
see
new
investors
use,
building
wide,
clear
outs
where
everyone
in
the
apartment
receives
a
no-fault
eviction
notice.
R
So
I
want
to
share
a
little
bit
because
I
know
that
I
heard
from
both
D
and
D
and
the
BP
da
on
some
of
the
the
numbers
right,
because
I
think
this
is
really
important
and
I
just
want
to
share
my
feelings
on
that,
and
also
just
say
that
United
for
justice,
and
also
many
of
our
partners
within
the
right
to
remain
coalition,
represent
tenants,
small
landlords
and
home
homeowners
who
are
really
working
together
collectively
for
this
fight.
This
is
not
just
a
tenant
issue.
R
The
city
should
be
planning
for
both
higher
amounts
of
affordability
and
use
new
definitions
of
affordable
housing
that
meets
the
real
need
of
the
most
cost
burdened
residents
in
our
neighborhoods
MIT
Department
of
urban
studies
shows
75%
of
rent
burden.
Households
make
less
than
what's
called
the
50%
of
area
median
income.
R
What
this
means
and
you've
heard
this
earlier
today,
is
about
50,000
a
year
for
a
family
of
four
over
55%
of
rampart
and
households,
make
less
than
30%
of
ami
about
30,000
a
year
for
a
household
of
four
I,
wonder
how
many
of
our
elected
officials
could
afford
to
rent
in
Boston
with
that
income
level.
I
ask
you
to
try
it
because
many
of
our
families
are
facing
that
struggle
and
reality
every
single
day.
R
R
R
R
We
should
protect
tenants
in
buildings
owned
by
speculators.
Our
city
needs
to
provide
protections
against
no-fault
evictions
for
tenants
and
buildings
owned
by
corporate
landlords,
enact
a
one
host
one
home
policy
for
short-term
rentals
and
anti
displacement
standards
that
prevent
development
at
the
expense
of
displacing
residents
and
businesses,
and
we
need
to
regulate
new
speculation,
speculation
activity
now,
tax,
the
profits
of
buildings
sold
for
over
a
certain
amount
of
money
and
put
that
money
into
anti
displacement
and
affordable
housing.
We're
always
screaming.
We
need
the
money.
R
This
is
a
way
to
think
about
where
that
money
can
come
from
and
I'm,
also
just
going
to
end
with
saying
two
more
things
that
I
think
is
really
important.
We
really
need
to
democratize
how
decisions
are
being
made
around
planning
in
the
neighborhoods
in
the
city
we
need
to
institute
democratically
elected
representative
neighborhood
planning
bodies
with
full
veto
power
over
proposed
new
development.
R
Give
the
power
of
what's
coming
into
our
neighborhoods
back
into
the
hands
of
the
community,
because
our
neighborhoods
want
a
seat
at
the
table
and
plenty
of
folks
have
heard
me
say
this
again:
an
authentic
seat
at
the
table
to
make
decisions
on
what
types
of
development
are
coming
into.
Our
neighborhoods
I'll
give
you
an
example:
my
mother
lives
on
High
Street
in
Dorchester
she's,
a
small
homeowner
there's
a
property
there
at
233,
Hancock
Street
that
went
through
its
community
process
and
I.
R
Remember
attending
the
first
meeting
with
my
mom
to
just
hear
what
was
being
proposed
for
the
neighborhood.
When
the
developers
stated
that
studio
apartments,
let
me
say
that
one
more
time
a
studio
apartment
that
is
a
room,
a
kitchen
and
a
bathroom
starting
price
was
1,800
the
folks
on
Hancock
Street
in
Dorchester.
What
you
telling
our
people
is
that
housing
is
not
for
you.
You
are
blatantly
saying
this.
Housing
is
not
from
majority
of
the
folks
that
live
in
our
community,
and
we
really
need
to
look
at
this
issue
and
give
residents
a
real
voice.
R
S
Okay,
great
well,
thank
you
Mimi
and
councillor
Edwards
and
counselor.
Janie.
I
would
really
like
to
thank
this
opportunity
to
present
to
you.
My
name
is
Carlos
Espinosa
Toro
I'm,
the
director
of
small
business
services
at
the
Jamaica
Plain
Neighborhood
Development,
Corporation,
JP
and
DC
I
provide
technical
assistance
to
small
business
owners
in
Boston,
including
anti
displacement
services.
S
S
Let
you
know
that
I'm
connecting
this,
also
with
the
presentation
that
Chancellor
O'malley
had
a
brief
presentation
that
he
had
a
few
minutes
ago
in
May
2016,
two
LLC's
managed
by
the
owners
of
City
Realty
bought
two
parcels
from
Washington
and
Green
Streets
in
Jamaica
Plain,
one
of
them
the
person
were
Ellen
bahador
restaurant
owned
by
Ramona
Alba
is
sitting
next
to
me
and
a
Latino
owned
car
repair
business
are
located.
They
purchased
the
parcels
for
a
total
of
1.6
million
dollars.
S
Last
month,
the
persons
were
listed
for
a
sale
for
2.9
million
dollars,
and
you
can
see
that
on
the
exhibit
that
I
share
with
you.
This
is
a
profit
margin
of
1.3
million.
After
no
investment
in
this
property.
As
a
result
in
in
bahador
restaurant
at
27
year,
old,
landmark
business
will
be
displaced
and
ting
long
time.
Workers
will
lose
their
jobs
I'm
here
with
Ramona
Alvarez
owner
of
Allen
bahador
and
I
would
like
her
to
tell
you
about
the
devastating
impact
of
speculation
in
her
own
words,
and
she
expresses
herself
in
Spanish.
T
T
S
T
T
S
S
T
T
T
S
S
We
have
the
power
to
stop
the
eviction
of
Allen
bahador
and
create
policies
that
stop
speculation,
prevent
other
evictions
and
ensure
that
small
businesses
have
access
to
support
and
resources
so
that
they
can
adapt
to
change
and
I
want
to
finish
saying
that
this
is
an
example
of
what's
happening
here
in
Jamaica
Plain
in
Boston,
but
I
hope
that
this
is
something
that
is
not
isolated
and
it's
actually
some
folks
here,
owners
of
small
businesses
that
can
relate
to
this
experience.
So
thank
you.
U
Good
afternoon,
chairman
Edwards
councillor
Janey
colleagues,
Mimi
got
all
those
answers.
Thank
you
everyone
for
being
here
today
and
thank
you
councillor,
Edwards,
for
your
leadership
and
in
holding
this
very
critical
hearing
and
discussion
this
afternoon.
My
name
is
dana
bellum
coordinator
of
the
displacement
Research
and
Action
Network
at
MIT,
University
were
based
in
the
department
of
urban
studies
and
planning
dran.
Our
acronym
drain
is
a
global
research
network.
U
On
behalf
of
the
drain
network
I'm
here
today
to
testify
on
the
critical
urgency
of
examining
and
addressing
how
specula
behaviors
are
impacting
local
housing
market
and
how
they're
exacerbating
neighborhood
displacement
and
unstapled
instability
for
a
for
a
dream.
As
a
network
that
comes
from
a
human
rights
perspective,
it
is
critical
for
us
to
say
that
any
examination
of
the
housing
market
really
needs
to
begin
with
a
recognition
that,
alongside
the
place
of
housing,
the
housing
holds
is
an
asset
in
the
private
market.
U
There's
a
long-standing
recognition
of
the
human
right
to
housing
as
recognized
and
protected
in
international
human
rights
law,
specifically
article
25
of
the
UN
Declaration
of
Human
Rights,
an
article
11
of
the
International
Covenant
of
economic,
social
and
cultural
rights.
The
human
right
to
housing
is
one
that's
essential
to
secure
livelihood,
livelihoods,
work
for
a
household
and
when
it
affects
the
fulfillment
of
other
human
rights
like
the
right
to
work,
the
right
to
health,
the
right
to
education
to
be
adequate.
It's
considered
the
housing
needs
to
be
affordable,
stable,
accessible
in
culturally
adequate
for
communities.
U
Essentially,
these
different
aspects
of
housing
speak
to
the
social
function.
The
housing
holds
speculative
behavior
or
one
that's
treats
housing
and
land
as
an
asset
for
financial
gain
undermines
as
human
right.
In
prioritizing
housings
financial
market
function
over
its
social
function,
it
puts
at
risk
the
many
way.
U
The
many
things
that
make
this
assets
so
essential
for
households
and
communities
it
puts
it
puts
at
risk
affordability,
stability
in
our
neighborhoods
and
accessibility,
as
has
been
widely
documented
over
the
last
decade,
in
particular
since
2007
2008,
when
the
financial
crisis
happened
here
in
the
US,
investment
in
urban,
real
estate
and
land
has
grown
astronomically.
A
recent
study
by
economists
at
university,
Illinois
and
University
of
Michigan
found
that
the
total
value
of
Americans
urban
land
is
an
astounding
25
trillion
dollars
as
a
2010.
So
these
are
not
even
the
most
recent
numbers.
U
This
is
roughly
more
than
double
the
nation's
total
economic
output
or
a
GDP.
As
of
2006
in
Boston,
an
estimate
by
the
online
real
estate
database
company
Zillow
found
that
the
total
value
of
all
homes
in
Greater
Boston
rose
by
6%
last
year
in
2017.
It's
an
incredible
672
billion
dollars.
Yet,
as
these
investments
in
urban
land
and
housing
have
balloon
and
shifted,
regulation
regulation
has
not
kept
pace.
This
underscores
the
question:
how
are
these
investments
benefiting
Community
Development?
U
These
mechanisms
are
building
clear
outs,
the
holding
of
vacant,
land
or
property
until
an
anticipation
of
other
development
or
ways
at
neighbourhood,
housing
and
land
are
getting
flipped
for
profit
maximization.
The
impacts
are
clear.
The
displacement
crisis
and
the
affordability
crisis
has
deepened
in
Boston,
increasingly,
families
are
rembered
and
they're
simply
being
pushed
out
of
the
city
or
neighborhood
altogether
into
the.
In
addition
to
the
instability
that
this
causes
at
a
household
level,
fragmentation
of
our
communities
or
culture
and
identity
and
I
excuse
me.
U
real
estate
market,
it
was
found
that,
in
the
first
quarter
of
2015,
close
to
60%
of
all
property
purchase,
purchases
in
the
US
were
made
by
limited
liability
companies
rather
than
named
people.
I
think,
as
was
already
mentioned
earlier
today,
as
the
city
does
look
to
examine
the
question
of
speculation.
I
think
as
I
was
very
you
know,
importantly,
sort
of
poised
in
preparation
for
this
hearing.
Today.
U
Data
remains
an
important
component
of
developing
precise
understandings
of
the
phenomenon
of
speculation
and
for
understanding
the
right
strategies
for
addressing
it,
but
the
rush
and
urban
housing
and
land
market
is
not
unique
to
Boston.
The
real
estate
investment
boom
is
taking
hold
in
cities
across
the
globe
internation
and
with
it,
bringing
unprecedented
forms
of
financialization
of
housing
and
land.
As
part
of
the
recognition
of
the
role
the
speculation
is
playing
in
shaping
local
housing
markets,
municipalities
are
engaging
with
policy
and
administrative
actions,
for
example
in
Barcelona
Spain.
U
This
has
taken
the
form
of
city,
LED
sanctions
or
fines
on
vacant
unions
in
Latin
America,
particularly
in
Sao,
Paulo
Brazil,
or
in
Ecuador.
Governments
at
the
local
national
level
have
put
in
place
regulatory
measures
to
capture
land
value
increments,
that
is
to
ensure,
when
public
investments
happen
or
when
Zona
zoning
or
regulatory
allowances
take
hold
in
the
development
process.
These
have
the
maximum
public
benefit
for
Communities.
U
In
Germany
to
another
severe,
we
can
see
how
the
state
has
put
in
robust
capital
gains
tax
to
regulate
short
term
property
sales
and
also
just
north
of
us
in
Vancouver.
The
city
has
recently
put
in
place
the
first
of
its
kind
vacant
homes
tax
as
an
anti
speculative
measure.
All
of
these
measures
are
significant
because
they
seek
to
engage
with
investment
in
a
way
that
most
benefits
of
public
good
and
the
curtail
speculative
practical
practices,
as
has
been
experienced
in
Boston
across
metropolis
cross
cities.
U
F
V
Speaking
on
behalf
of
the
Boston
tenant
Coalition,
who
is
also
a
member
of
the
right
to
remain
coalition,
I
want
to
point
out
some
of
the
nuances
in
the
data
relating
to
the
area,
median
income
and
the
Boston
median
income
and
who
the
area
median
income
accurately
describes
and
who
it
does
not.
The
first
distinction
there
is
between
renters
and
homeowners.
V
V
However,
the
majority
of
homeowners
in
Boston
are
white
households,
forty-four
percent
of
the
white
households
in
Boston,
our
homeowners
for
African
American
households
in
Boston.
That
number
is
twenty
nine
percent
for
Latino
households.
That
number
is
16
percent
and
for
Asian
households.
That
number
is
26
percent.
V
The
other
important
factor
to
break
down
these
median
incomes
from
is
race
more
generally,
not
just
in
the
context
of
home
ownership
for
white
households,
renters
and
owners
alike.
Throughout
the
city,
the
area
median
income
and
Boston
median
income
are
very
similar.
50%
of
the
area.
Median
income
is
59%
of
the
Boston
median
income
for
white
households.
V
V
These
data
shed
light
on
the
needs
of
Boston's
renters,
especially
Boston's
renters
of
color,
and
why
affordability
standards
should
be
framed
around
Boston
residents,
economics
needs
and
resources
should
be
targeted
to
the
housing
affordability
around
these
needs.
I
would
also
like
to
call
attention
to
a
report
that
I
worked
on
for
the
boston
tenant
coalition
last
year
that
examined
the
patterns
in
households,
with
section
8
vouchers,
from
the
Boston
Housing,
Authority
and
metro
housing
Boston,
and
the
changes
in
the
trends
where
they
were
placing
vouchers
looking
at
two
time
periods
from
2010
to
2016.
V
Point
displacement
conducted
a
series
of
interviews
for
our
range
of
organizations
to
provide
context
to
what
the
data
was
showing
and
what
those
interviews
brought
out
was
displacement,
involuntary
displacement,
often
caused
by
discrimination,
source
of
income
discrimination,
racial
discrimination
and
I
bring
this
up
not
only
to
emphasize
the
difficulty
faced
by
people
with
these
vouchers,
but
also
that
many
many
households
do
not
have
these
vouchers,
and
these
findings
really
point
to
the
broader
issue
of
displacement
and
the
difficulties
that
families
are
facing.
So
thank
you.
I
welcome
any
questions.
M
M
V
M
V
W
You
like
to
thank
counselors
for
calling
this
and
for
inviting
me
to
speak.
My
name
is
Michael
Healy
I
work
for
a
development
firm
in
town,
aw,
Perry,
aw
Perry
is
a
hundred
and
thirty
year.
Old
firm
has
a
long
track
record
in
town
as
well
as
on
the
South
Shore
we've
done
office
buildings
as
well
as
single-family
homes,
developments
down
on
the
South,
Shore
and
I.
W
W
It's
a
difficult
issue.
You
know
at
the
end
of
the
day,
numbers
in
our
world
rule
a
lot
of
things.
So
in
order
to,
as
we
talked
about
speculation
and
foreign
investment,
I
think,
foreign
investment
is
driving
prices,
making
it
more
difficult
to
control
assets
at
the
end
of
the
day
as
an
investor
in
real
estate
and
the
developer,
we're
paid
to
define
deal
source
deals,
create
value
and
deliver
value
for
communities
and,
at
the
end
of
the
day,
investors
in
our
deals,
you
know,
dictate
the
terms
and
required
rate
of
return.
W
Things
like
that,
so
with
the
influx
of
foreign
capital,
as
well
as
the
influx
in
the
increase
in
real
estate
investment,
you
end
up
with
a
frothy
market.
You
end
up
with
elevated
valuations
and,
as
a
result,
you
need
to
sell
apartments
for
for
more
money.
Obviously,
that
that
makes
makes
total
sense.
W
Also,
as
some
points
remain,
adjust
noted
some
things.
The
the
average
condo
flip
talking
about
flips.
Obviously,
in
these
neighborhoods,
the
numbers
are,
can
be
pretty
dramatic,
the
average
two
hundred
and
twenty
thousand
dollars,
or
so
as
a
condo
profit.
Just
thinking
of
that
from
a
development,
you
know
when
I
hear
that
number,
the
first
thing
I
think
of
is
depending
on
how
big
the
asset
is
and
how
much
it
costs
to
buy
it.
W
You
may
be
spending
four
to
six
hundred
thousand
dollars
so
that
two
hundred
thousand
dollar
profit
might
be
off
of
a
pretty
sizable
investment,
so
a
developer
that
makes
two
hundred
thousand
dollars,
depending
on
how
much
the
improvement
cost.
That
could
be
a
hundred
thousand
of
that
two
hundred
thousand
profit
and
then,
at
the
end
of
the
day,
if
an
investor
flips
within
a
year,
they're
taxed
at
ordinary
income,
which
is
for
a
two
hundred
thousand
dollar
profit,
is
a
thirty
five
percent
tax
rate,
so
they're
paying
seventy
grand
in
taxes.
W
Similarly,
if
that
person
waits
three
hundred
and
sixty
six
days
in
sells
outside
of
that
year,
they
then
are
paying
at
a
lower
long-term
capital,
rain
capital
gains
rate
of
fifteen
percent.
So
on
that
little
example
that
one
year
that
one
day
makes
a
difference
of
roughly
forty
thousand
dollars,
so
I
do
think
that
just-
and
this
was
me
talking-
but
it
graduated
timing-
you
you
know
that
the
taxes
do
hit
the
bottom
line.
W
So,
at
the
end
of
the
day,
it's
a
great
way
to
create
what
you
want
and
effect
change
the
last
Friday
I
submitted
to
on
the
housing
with
public
assets,
the
RFI
we
as
a
firm
view
that
and
I'm
talking
personally
for
the
most
part,
because
it's
been
a
project
kind
of
looked
after
the
last
couple
weeks.
We
look
at
that
as
an
opportunity
for
the
city
in
a
sense
to
control
the
sale,
and
this
kind
of
you
know
somewhat
came
to
me
today
as
we're
sitting
here.
W
Is
you
have
a
frothy
market
if
the
market
is
allowed
assets,
trade
for
the
highest
and
best
use,
so
whoever
is
willing
to
pay
more,
whether
it's
Chinese
money
trying
to
get
money
out
of
China
or
whether
it's
German
investors,
or
whether
it's
someone
who
grew
up
in
Dorchester
and
invest
in
real
estate
on
their
own,
the
usually
the
highest
and
best
use
and
the
most
valuable
product
is
what
ultimately
gets
built.
So
as
we
as
I
was
looking
at
the
innovation
labs
RFI
on
how
do
you?
How
can
we
use
these
public
assets?
W
Those
are
the
situations
where
the
city
is
able
to
to
affect
change
and
drive
what
they
want,
but
do
it
in
a
way
where
developers
are
able
to
create
what
they
want.
The
communities
are
able
to
get
what
they
want
out
of
it,
but
at
the
end
of
the
day,
it's
it
really
is
what
you
pay
for
a
building.
You
can't
get
that
money
back
so
if
you
invest
in
raw
land
and
and
I
heard,
the
word
speculation
a
lot
of
times
today,
as
if
speculation
was
without
risk.
W
So
a
lot
of
those
people
that
are
probably
flipping
and
booking
you
know
buying
for
3
million
selling
for
six
buying
for
one
I'm
selling
for
three
I
would
imagine
that
a
lot
of
those
scenarios.
Those
individuals
are
permitting
the
land
to
create
something.
Now,
whether
or
not
we
agree
with
what
they're
trying
to
create
that's
up
for
discussion,
absolutely.
W
W
W
It's
it's
daunting
and
I
think
that
this
type
of
an
environment
and
this
type
of
an
exercise
and
all
the
effort
and
focus
that's
being
put
against
it.
I
think
it's
great
and
I
think
long
term.
It
will
we'll
figure
it
out
in
the
city.
I
just
think
we
we
need
to
be
on
the
same
page
and
communicate
this
with
all
things.
So,
if
anybody's
any
questions
and
I
would
welcome
them,
but
I
just.
A
A
Unfortunately,
due
to
the
down
payment,
a
lot
of
people
are
still
precluded
from
them
and
I'd
like
to
think
that,
in
some
of
the
units
that
you're
building
that
are
going
to
be
owned,
that
you
look
at
rent
to
own
programs
and
how
someone
can
solely
gain
wealth
in
that
and
also
become
an
owner
in
the
process.
Again,
I
I
just
feel
that
there's
a
lack
of
creativity,
maybe
because,
as
you
mentioned
before,
the
perspective
is
so
focused
on
the
numbers,
how
you
get
your
numbers,
you,
your
your
clients,
not
you
personally
may
not!
G
A
In
as
much
as
we're
in
the
city
of
Boston-
and
you
can
see
from
you
know
not
now,
but
this
room
was
full
because
enough
people
do
care
and
that
the
city
of
Boston
is
going
to
probably
move
in
some
very
you
know
what
your
your
industry
based
seem
as
aggressive
measures.
I
prefer
that
we
don't
fight
this
out.
M
A
I
A
A
X
For
Coldwell
Banker
real
estate,
it's
their
commercial
arm,
so
major
data
source
and
one
of
the
largest
commercial
real
estate
owners
in
the
world
about
the
rental
apartment
housing
market
in
over
the
past
21
years
in
the
city
of
Boston.
What
this
data
shows
and
I
don't
know
if
you
guys
want
it
now
or
after,
but
is
that
over
the
past
five
years,
Boston
has
been
building
a
record
number
of
units
building
five
times
as
many
units
in
2017,
then
in
2012,
the
rapid
development
of
available
housing
has
had
a
positive
impact
on
rent
costs.
X
Basically,
a
supply
and
demand
effect
here,
so
vacancy
rates
in
2016
and
2017
were
the
highest
that
they've
been
since
2005
due
to
the
high
vacancy
rates.
Increases
in
the
cost
of
rent
has
also
leveled
off
rising
by
only
1%
approximately
in
each
year
since
2015
in
recent
years,
with
the
lower
developments
therein
years
with
lower
development
numbers
like
2013
and
14
were
the
number
of
completed
units
were
half
is
what
we
saw
in
2016
and
17.
Rent
increases
in
the
City
of
Boston
were
as
high
as
five
and
6%.
X
So,
basically,
when
we're
creating
more
supply,
you
know
there's
there's
stabilization
of
rent
prices.
So
what
I
kind
of
wanted
to
speak
to
today
was
with
the
role
of
the
short-term
rental
investor
units
in
this
in
this
ecosystem.
So
the
benefit
of
companies
like
saunder
that
run
professionally
managed
short-term
rental
units,
also
known
as
investor
units,
is
that
we
help
stabilize
new
developments
in
the
city
of
Boston,
allowing
developers
to
secure
financing
for
new
projects
in
the
city.
X
X
You
know
having
some
of
these
high
profile
buildings
not
essentially
meet
their
pro
formas
could
result
in
a
stoppage
of
Boston's
building
boom
and
Jenna.
So
we
see
that
you
know
that,
coupled
with
the
fact
that
these
buildings
are
incentivized
to
have
affordable
housing
units
in
the
buildings,
you
know
a
company
like
ours
that
comes
in
and
helps
these
buildings
stabilize.
Actually,
then,
you
know
allows
these
developers
to
get
on
to
their
next
projects
that
much
sooner,
and
therefore
this
is
one
of
the
few
ways
that
we
are
seeing.
Affordable
housing
units
get
created.
X
So
you
know,
if
you
have
a
company
like
ours,
stabilize
these
buildings
help
them
reach
their
stabilization
faster
through
occupancy.
It
can
allow
them
to
move
on
to
their
next
projects,
which
then,
in
turn
allow
for
more
affordable
housing
to
be
created,
so
just
kind
of
talking
through
some
of
that.
You
know
our
goal
and
coming
here
to
speak,
was
sort
of
just
to
present
this
data
around
the
vacancy
rates.
X
The
idea
of
you
know
supply
and
demand,
as
it
relates
to
the
city
and
just
give
our
perspective
that
you
know
we
see
ourselves
contributing,
hopefully
in
a
positive
way
towards
you,
know,
future
developments
and
buildings
and
the
stabilization
which
then
creates
more
affordable
housing,
which
I
think
is
something
we
all
agree
that
with
that
we
want
to
see.
So
that's
that's
all
I
have
today
thank.
X
A
Y
Okay,
yeah
hi,
my
name
is
Hamilton.
Oh
thank
you
for
the
opportunity
to
testify.
I
am
the
chief
operating
officer
at
Asian,
Community
Development
Corporation
in
Chinatown.
We
are
a
thirty
year
old
nonprofit
that
creates
affordable
housing
and
provides
housing
and
financial
counseling
in
Boston's
Chinatown.
We
provided
homes
for
1,200
residents
in
Chinatown
and
have
assisted
over
2,000
households
in
through
first-time
homebuyer
workshops
and
financial
literacy
education
and
over
the
years
we've
built
close
to
400,
affordable
homes
in
Chinatown.
However,
we
all
know
that
has
not
been
enough.
Y
Chinatown
in
the
city
of
Boston
as
a
whole
are
experiencing
unprecedented
housing
shortages
and
we're
glad
that
the
City
City
Council
wants
to
work
with
the
community
to
better
understand
and
tackle
this
issue.
I
just
offer
a
few
thoughts.
We
agree
with
councillor
Edwards
that
we
need
to
limit
speculation,
which
has
made
worse
by
the
conversion
of
apartments
into
full-time,
short-term
rentals
when
investors
convert
apartments
into
full-time,
short-term,
rentals,
they're,
taking
units
off
of
the
housing
market
overnight.
So
we
support
the
city's
effort
to
regulate
these
short-term
rentals,
especially
those
that
are
not
unoccupied.
Y
In
addition,
Chinatown
has
seen
an
influx
of
speculators
who
are
buying
entire
buildings,
conduct
renovations,
raise
the
rents
and
displace
multiple
families
at
once,
once
the
building
is
sold,
families
often
just
wait
for
the
eviction
notice
that
it
inevitably
comes.
One
of
our
staff
spoke
to
me
recently
about
a
family
whose
father
was
a
had
a
disability,
and
yet
he
was,
they
were
all
forced
to
move
due
to
a
foreign
investor
who
bought
the
entire
building
and
raised
the
rents
to
an
unaffordable
level.
So
what
first
happened?
Y
Just
a
handful
of
times
is
now
regular
occurrence
in
Chinatown
we
do
think
taxing.
Such
investors
could
be
a
way
to
discourage
speculation
and,
as
has
been
mentioned
today,
we
think
the
city
should
continue
to
collect
more
data
about
how
much
housing
is
being
brought
up
domestically
versus
foreign
by
foreign
investors,
and
how
much
of
a
tax
would
be
enough
to
actually
deter
such
investors
and
as
well
consider
any
unintended
consequences
that
attacks
might
bring
about.
Y
The
other
tool
that
the
city
already
has
at
its
disposal
to
battle
speculation
is
zoning.
Most
of
the
new
developments
in
Chinatown,
including
several
Hotel
proposals,
are
asking
for
two
to
three
times
the
density
and
height.
That
has
been
that
what
then,
what
current
zoning
allows
in
this
form
of
speculation,
these
developers
to
overpay
significantly
for
properties,
because
they
believe
and
sometimes
even
expect,
that
the
city
will
grant
them
zoning
variances,
and
so
this
increased.
Y
This
greatly
increases
property
prices
because
developers
pay
on
the
basis
of
what
they
believe
they
can
get
away
with,
and
not
what
current
zoning
allows
and
if
the
BPD
a
would
just
start
holding
developers
feet
to
the
fire
on
zoning.
We
believe
this
would
greatly
help
to
curb
speculation
again,
there's
a
tool
that
already
exists
and
does
not
require
the
council
to
pass
any
new
ordinances.
Y
Just
just
needs
to
be
enforced,
and
finally,
IDP
has
been
a
key
source
of
funding
that
we
have
used
to
develop,
affordable
rental
and
homeownership
opportunities
in
Chinatown
and
as
development
costs
increase
in
Boston.
We
need
to
ensure
that
the
funding
for
affordable
housing
also
keeps
pace.
So
we
definitely
welcome
the
city
to
re-examine
the
formula
for
determining
IDP
amounts
so
that
we
can
make
sure
the
right
amount
of
money
is
going
toward
developing
affordable
housing.
Y
P
Z
Is
probably
not
the
first
time
we're
here
talking
about
housing
crisis
in
Chinatown?
Just
you
know,
Hamilton
mentioned
it.
I
think
that
there
were
many
many
residents
who's
been
facing.
Displacement
had
testified
before
the
council,
so
I
just
want
to
say
a
few
things
in
terms
of
housing
before
2000.
There's.
AA
Z
Change:
hands
of
housing
in
Chinatown
it
really
spurred
up
in
2000
and
coincidently
or
consequently,
that
was
when
a
lot
of
luxury
development
has
been
built
in
Chinatown,
along
Washington
in
and
around
Chinatown
right.
So
just
what
does
it
mean?
Like
you
know,
we
had
her
residence.
What
does
it
mean
and
how
affect
their
lives,
but
I
want
to
actually
today
talk
a
little
bit
about
kind
of
couple
buildings
like
the
amount
like
of
kind
of
breed
or
how
it
actually,
you
know
how
fast
these
housing
prices
have
grown.
Z
So
just
an
example
on
106
Tyler
Street
right
now
is
actually
exclusively
just
used
for
Airbnb
rental,
their
concern
commercial
tenant
as
a
hairdresser
I
that
rest
of
being
displaced,
so
in
2000
they
were
the
building
was
so
for
three
hundred
and
seventy
five
thousand
and
then
in
2001.
It
was
so
for
four
hundred
and
fifty
four
thousand
two
thousand
three.
It
went
up
to
six
hundred
and
forty
two
thousand,
and
in
2005
the
building
was
sold
for
nine
hundred
thousand
and
then
fast
forward
to
2017.
Z
The
building
was
sold
for
three
point:
three
million
dollars;
three
point:
zero
1
million
dollars,
so
so,
just
within
eighteen
years
to
five
times
change
over
as
each
time
it
happens,
residents
who
used
to
be
a
longtime
residents,
the
rent
is
going
up
and
each
time
the
change
hand.
Basically
a
higher
income
bracket
of
residents
moved
in
and
actually
before
it
was
sold
in
twenty
twenty
seventeen.
It
was
actually
young
professionals
and
families
living
in
the
building
and
the
families
are
actually
squeezed
in.
Z
Like
you
know,
you're
talking
about
you
know
a
whole
family
of
four
or
five
people
in
a
build
in
in
one
bedroom,
sharing
an
apartment
with
other
people.
You
know
the
rent
at
that
time
was
around
nine
hundred,
but
even
the
even
even
doing
that
family
can't
stay
in
that
house
anymore,
and
that's
just
like
one
example
and-
and
you
know
in
right
before
I
left
my
office
tenants
at
410
Harrison.
Z
We
actually
reach
out
to
the
office
of
housing
stability
to
mediate
the
the
the
eviction
process,
but
the
lien
will
refused
that
building
was
bought
for
ninety
five
hundred
ninety
five
thousand
dollars
in
1986.
This
is
like,
when
you
know
the
South
End
was
not
desirable
and
now
because
we
real
estate
agents
been,
you
know,
circulating
that
area,
sending
mailings
and
knocking
at
the
doors
and
leaving
literature's,
and
they
were
awful
1.5
million
one
point:
nine
million
dollars.
Z
Initially
they
didn't
want
to
sell,
but
is
a
very
enticing
price
and
that's
for
family
living
there
and
now
you
know.
Actually,
this
morning
they
were
in
our
office
because
they've
been
in
putting
an
application
for
Boston
Housing
Authority
for
priority
status
and
they've
been
in
the
waiting
list
for
a
long
time,
and
there
was
some
paperwork
issues
and-
and
you
know-
and
we
know
that
the
waiting
list
for
public
housing
is
like
10,
15,
sometimes
20
years
right.
Z
Z
I'm
not
really
sure
how
we
can
regulate
greed,
but
I.
Think
that
would
policy.
It
could
help
make
a
difference,
so
definitely
it's
urgent
and
necessary
for
us
to
have
a
policy
to
regulate
short
term
rental.
Before
you
know
more
of
the
working
families
in
the
city
of
Boston
have
move
out.
We
we
got
to
be
really
careful.
What
kind
of
investment
we
want
in
a
community.
We
don't
want
short-term
rental
or
Sanders
proposal
which
really
just
cover
a
market
for
themselves.
Z
It
does
not
really
stabilize
the
community,
you
know
how
do
we
make
sure
that
you
know
lowering
rent
wouldn't
displace
people?
Well,
just
don't
bribe
by
above
market.
You
know
a
lot
of
these
spec
Lorraine's
buying
about
don't
buy
above
market,
so
you
can
lower
the
red
to
keep
people
there
keep
good
tenants
there.
Z
That's
all
simple
and
then
I
want
to
say
that
Representative
Mike
Connolly
actually
have
a
bill
on
real
estate
transfer
fee
that
we
that
receive
favorable,
reporting
and
and
I
think
that
there
is
an
option
for
for
cities
to
op
in
and
he's
proposing
a
fee
of
0.5%
to
2%
on
our
real
estate
transactions
in
the
Chinese
progressive
Association.
We
actually
did
a
little
exit
poll
in
2015
in
3,
8
and
5
1.
Z
We
pull
around
a
few
hundred
voters
who
are
entering
exiting
the
poll,
and
actually,
at
that
point
we
say
that,
would
you
support
a
policy
that
you
know
that
actually
require
transfer
fee
for
property
over
1.5
million
dollars
and
actually
over?
Ninety
percent
of
the
voters
actually
said
as
a
great
idea
and
I
just
want
to
say
that
in
San
Francisco
in
2010
they
passed
a
property,
real
property
transfer,
tax
city
ordinance
and
they
proposed
an
increase
in
2016.
Z
So
the
increase
was
0.5
percent
to
3
percent
depending
on
the
price,
and
actually
it
helps
the
city
produce
ninety
million
dollars
in
city
services
and
that
money
could
actually
be
used
to
build
affordable
housing.
If
we
actually
support
a
policy
like
that
and-
and
so
lastly,
I
want
to
put
it
out
there-
I
don't
think
the
City
Council
is
ready
to
entertain
it.
But
I
really
think
that
there
should
be
a
moratorium
on
luxury
development
until
homelessness
and
displacement
is
addressed.
N
We've
worked
hard
for
28
years,
we've
been
together
28
years
and
we've
worked
hard
to
keep
apartments,
but
at
one
point
our
apartment.
In
2013
we
were
peeing
one
rent
and
within
three
years
we
were
homeless
within
three
years
of
he
and
thirteen
hundred
dollars
a
month.
It
just
kept
going
up
and
up
and
up
and
I.
Finally,
we
were
in
the
shelter
for
22
months.
We
were
on
the
waiting
list,
housing
for
12
years.
We
were
in
the
shelter
for
22
months
and
know
that
we
were
in
a
Sonia
and
I'm
here.
G
Hi
Thank
You
councillor
Edwards
and
councillor
Jamie
for
holding
this
important
hearing.
My
name
is
Liza
Barron
and
I'm.
Speaking
on
behalf
of
deadly
Street
Neighborhood
initiative
DSN,
I
we're
a
34
year
old
organization
focused
on
community
planning,
organizing
and
development
in
roxbury
and
the
uplands
corner
area
of
Dorchester,
and
we
are
increasingly
concerned
about
the
issue
of
speculation.
G
We
have
our
share
of
vacant,
underused
and
foreclosed
buildings
in
the
neighborhood,
and
many
of
those
owners
have
been
holding
on
to
their
properties
until
they
can
make
maximum
profit
on
their
sale.
We're
already
seeing
prices
dramatically,
for
example,
one
four
story:
building
with
SRO
housing
and
small
business
space
was
just
sold
for
four
point:
five
million
dollars
when
it
had
been
valued
at
less
than
half
of
that,
we
need
strategies
to
intervene
now
in
flipping
and
speculation.
G
We
need
to
work
together
with
the
city
to
get
as
much
land
and
property
off
the
market
as
possible
so
that
it
is
not
sold
for
inflated
profits.
Community
land
Trust's,
which
have
already
been
mentioned
today,
are
one
available
tool
allowing
residents
to
purchase
property
through
a
non-profit
for
development
into
permanently
affordable
housing
or
other
economic
development
uses
Diaz
and
I,
and
our
Land
Trust
Dudley
neighbors
Inc,
as
well
as
other
emerging
land
Trust's
in
Boston,
are
working
hard
to
increase
our
capacity
and
ability
to
purchase
property
in
an
out-of-control
market.
G
In
order
to
support
the
land
trust
strategy.
We
encourage
the
city
to
consider
the
following
five
solutions:
one
increase
the
amount
of
money
per
unit
available
to
nonprofits
for
purchasing
rehabbing
and
preserving
properties
as
affordable
to
provide
technical
support
and
resources
for
emerging
and
small
community
land
Trust's,
as
well
as
housing
cooperatives.
G
Three
create
a
land
bank
to
get
private
property
off
the
market
and
partner
with
nonprofits
to
develop
permanently
affordable
housing
and
commercial
space
on
those
sites
for
create
a
speculation
or
luxury
transfer
tax
that
generates
additional
revenue
for
affordable
housing
creation.
5
create
meaningful
incentives
for
small
landlords
and
owners
of
triple-deckers
to
sell
to
nonprofits.
AB
Good
afternoon
I'm
super
anger,
I
do
have
a
statement,
but
I'm
not
going
to
read
it
because
it's
late,
but
I
would
like
to
make
three
points.
I'm,
an
architect
and
an
educator.
I've
been
involved.
I
live
I've,
lived
in
Egleston
square
for
30
years
and
have
been
involved
in
the
last
several
years
in
several
neighborhood
organizations,
including
asthma's
Housing
Committee,
the
Alliance
of
neighborhood
groups
along
the
Jaypee
rocks
corridor
and
the
housing
stability
task
force
that
grew
out
of
the
Jaypee
rocks
plan.
AB
We
see
that
developers
and
LLC's
are
paying
much
more
than
the
current
market
rate
for
properties
and
in
the
process
they're
out
bidding
both
cdc's
and
local
residents,
who
might
otherwise
be
able
to
buy
homes
in
the
neighborhood,
often
before
they
even
go
on
market
and
often
it
and
such
ratios.
That
no
one
else
can
compete
with
them,
but
what's
more
alarming
is
that
they
then
use
that
high
cost
of
land
to
justify
their
pro
forma,
that
they
can't
afford
lower
rents
or
they
can't
afford
higher
affordability
because
they
paid
so
much
for
the
land.
AB
The
second
thing
is
in
terms
of
displacement:
we've
talked
a
lot
about
people
losing
their
homes,
but
I
want
to
point
out
that
when
people
lose
their
homes,
they
not
only
lose
their
home,
they
lose
their
kin,
they
lose
connection
to
their
neighbors.
There's
a
recent
study
that
people
who
lose
their
homes
often
lose
their
jobs
if
they're
low
income
and
that
it
can
take
ten
years
to
recover
if
ever
from
that
kind
of
displacement
and
loss,
and
also
when
we
lose
those
long-term
residents
and
I've.
AB
Personally
seen
a
lot
of
families
and
long-term
residents
who've
been
displaced
because
their
rents
went
up
because
ownership
turned
over
the
rents
went
up
so
high
that
five
hundred
seven
hundred
dollars
with
a
month's
notice
that
they
had
to
leave.
I
also
want
to
comment
on
the
statement
that
building
more
housing
helps
stabilize
rents,
and
what
we've
often
seen
is
that
when
you
build
luxury
housing
in
working-class
and
low-income
neighborhoods,
that
it
has
the
opposite
effect
at
least
locally,
that
those
existing
landlords.
AB
Supposedly,
this
new
housing
will
relieve
the
pressure
on
the
existing
housing,
but
often
the
landlords
of
that
existing
housing
see
what
the
new
property
the
luxury
housing
are
getting
for.
Rents
and
choose
instead
to
displace
their
tenants,
affect
their
tenants
and
then
raise
the
rent
and
I'm
especially
concerned.
Now
that
we're
hearing
that
the
luxury
market
is
getting
saturated
and
people
are
talking
about
converting
to
condos,
because
now
not
only
now
the
they
were
reducing
that
available
rental
stock
and
limiting
the
condos
to
people
who
have
higher
incomes
than
then
rental.
A
AC
There
are
currently
28
organizations
that
have
signed
a
letter
to
the
mayor
asking
for
a
meeting
about
that
and
we
had
met
with
the
mirror
a
year
ago
to
address
the
crisis
of
affordable
housing.
This
the
issue
that
you've
heard
it
a
lot
about
I
mean
there's
basically,
two
policy
solutions:
you
either
regulate
the
market
through
strong
rent
control
and
taxes
on
real
estate,
real
estate
speculation,
or
you
create
subsidies
or
both
and
in
the
absence
of
a
will
by
the
state
legislature
to
consider
rent
control
and
the
City
Council.
AC
Perhaps
we
really
have
to
look
at
subsidies
additional
subsidies
for
low
income,
people
that
are
being
pushed
out
of
the
city
to
deal
with
that
crisis.
So,
of
course,
we've
been
active
for
many
years
fighting
to
keep
federal,
cut,
fighting
federal
cutbacks
on
fighting
for
more
subsidies
from
the
state,
but
we
realized
that
the
city
is
generating
an
enormous
amount
of
wealth
from
new
construction.
You
see
it
all
over
the
place,
all
the
new
luxury
towers
and
new
office
buildings.
AC
The
new
luxury
condos,
are
creating
enormous
wealth
that
needs
to
be
tapped
to
offset
the
housing
crisis
that
that
wealth
is
created,
that
that
development
is
creating,
so
there's
a
direct
relationship.
So
we
we,
during
the
transition
to
Mayor
Walsh,
we
actually
had
proposed
a
real
estate
speculation,
tax,
a
graduated
tax
and
real
estate
speculation,
and
the
coalition
that
met
with
a
mirror
a
year
ago
proposed
three
specific
things
that
would
address
speculation
and
and
address
the
housing
crisis
as
ways
to
fund
low
income.
AC
Rent
subsidies
targeted
to
new
development,
to
offset
displacement
and
to
prevent
displacement
of
tennis,
for
instance,
in
the
13/8
buildings
that
are
like
mercantile
as
well
as
meet
the
needs
for
low
incremental
housing
and
public
housing
is
going
through
rental
assistance
demonstration
such
as
Bunker
Hill.
So
our
proposal,
the
three
things
that
we
wanted
to
present
to
you
today
as
policy
solutions
to
address
this
crisis,
our
first
earmarking
new
property
tax
revenues
from
the
luxury
condos
that
are
under
construction
now
in
Boston,
there
are
currently
2,200
super
luxury.
AC
Condos
are
gonna,
sell
for
well
over
1
or
2
million
dollars
each
a
really
good
example
is
Millennium
Towers
millennium
Towers
just
sold
442
luxury
condos,
a
2.4
million
dollars
average
price
each.
That
is
generating
ten
point:
nine
million
dollars
in
property
tax
revenue,
new
revenue
to
the
city.
Only
23
percent
of
the
people
of
the
units
signed
up
for
the
residential
exemption,
which
suggests
that
77
percent
the
real
market
for
the
building
was
not
the
people
of
Austin.
AC
They
were
marketing
it
to
foreign
speculators
from
China
Russia,
Latin
America,
most
of
whom
are
hiding
dark
money
or
illicit
cash
into
China
you're,
not
supposed
to
be
able
to
take
more
than
50
thousand
dollars
out
of
the
country,
but
if
they're
buying
it
to
a
five
million
dollar
condo
with
cash
in
Millennium
towers.
Something
is
strange
there
and
maybe
there's
a
way
to
look
at
that
as
well.
But
in
the
meantime
the
building
is
built.
The
revenue
is
coming
into
the
city
because
of
that
enormous
increase
in
speculative
value.
AC
For
that
one
property
rents
are
going
up
when
you
build
luxury
condos
the
rents
nearby
go
up.
Everybody
in
Boston
understands
that,
except
some
people
at
the
BR,
a
in
the
Department
of
Neighborhood
Development.
They
seem
to
think
that
that
will
lower
rents.
That
has
not
been
our
experience
or
anybody
that
I
know
in
the
city
you
build
luxury
condos
luxury
rentals
rents
are
going
to
go
up
in
the
neighborhood,
so
that
is
happening
in
downtown
Boston.
AC
So
one
way
to
offset
that
that
injustice,
the
driving
up
of
rents,
is
to
take
some
of
that
new
revenue
and
targeted
for
low-income
rent
subsidies
to
offset
the
the
displacement
caused
by
this
speculation
caused
by
the
speculation.
So
that's
the
first
policy
thing.
We
think
that
that
can
be
done
by
the
city
by
ordinance.
You
would
not
need
to
go
to
the
Statehouse
to
get
permission
to
do
that.
AC
The
mayor,
in
fact,
could
just
do
it
as
a
matter
of
policy
by
deciding
that
the
new
revenue
from
that
type
of
source
would
be
earmarked
for
low-income
renters
earmarked
for
low-income
renters,
and
if,
since
there
are
twenty-two
hundred
units
like
the
fourth
out
four
hundred
at
Millennium
towers
that
are
under
construction,
that
would
generate
enough
for
close
to
four
to
five
thousand
low-income
subsidies
for
every
million
dollars
and
in
value
that
is
taxed
by
the
property
tax
that
generates
ten
point.
Eight
thousand
dollars
a
year
for
every
million
dollars.
AC
So
the
ten
point,
nine
million
from
millenium
alone,
is
enough
to
create
1,000,
low-income,
rent
subsidies
to
people
below
thirty
percent
of
the
median
for
a
permanent,
sustainable
basis.
That
money
is
not
that
that
revenue
is
not
going
away.
It's
new
revenue
to
the
city,
so
it's
an
increment,
it's
not
taking
the
current
budget
and
reallocating
it.
It's
looking
at
the
new
incremental
revenue,
that's
going
to
come
in
over
the
next
few
years
from
those
new
developments,
so
that
would
be
one
thing
and
it
wouldn't
be.
AC
Even
all
the
new
revenue
was
just
the
revenue,
four
million
dollar
condo
sales
and
up
just
that
alone.
So
that's
the
first
suggestion.
The
second
is
having
a
graduated
tax
on
real
estate
speculation,
I
think
it
was
Bob
Garrett
earlier
was
saying:
well,
there's
a
dilemma:
if
you
have
a
tax
and
real
estate
speculation,
how
do
you?
How
do
you
capture
the
flippin
problem?
Because
you
know
sometimes
it's
okay
to
hold
a
unit
a
little
bit
longer
and
then
sell
it
or
what,
if
you
sell
it
sooner
and
there's
a
different
value
and
so
forth?
AC
Well,
the
way
to
do
that
is
to
address
that
problem
is
through
a
graduated
tax
that
increases
the
rate
of
Taxation
based
on
the
length
of
holding
and
the
extent
of
the
game.
So
we
had.
This
is
an
issue.
I
wasn't
in
the
south
end
an
organizer
in
the
south
end
in
the
70s,
fighting,
gentrification
displacement
and
speculation.
Then-
and
we
was
a
director
of
a
state
agency
for
a
while-
we
proposed
a
realist,
a
graduated
tax
on
real
estate
speculation,
which
I
brought
copies
here,
and
it
has
a
chart
that
was
filed
a
chart.
AC
That
is
a
graduated
tax,
showing
a
different
rate
for
the
extent
of
the
holding
period.
In
the
extent
of
the
game,
this
was
modeled
on
the
state
of
Vermont,
which
had
a
graduated
tax
on
real
estate
speculation
in
land
in
the
70s
and
Diana
bell
from
Jay
an
earlier
mentioned
several
other
cities
in
Europe
to
do
similar
things.
AC
The
third
thing
the
third
proposal
is
to
create
and
actually
Diana
had
mentioned.
This
also
have
a
recapture
agreement
for
any
land
or
buildings
sold,
sold
or
leased
by
the
b
ra
or
the
city,
a
recapture
agreement
where,
if
the
city
is
giving
away
land
or
selling
it
and
the
buyer
flips
it
in
a
short
period
of
time,
the
city
would
recapture
a
portion
of
that
money.
That's
done
widely
in
Latin
America,
it's
done
in
Canada
Sun
and
cities
in
Europe.
The
United
States
is
the
only
major
capitalist
country
that
doesn't
hasn't
looked
at
that.
AC
That
could
be
done
here.
We
believe
that
that
could
be
done
by
city
ordinance
or
simply
by
a
policy
by
the
b
ra
and
the
city.
One
example
which
we
presented,
we
discussed
with
the
mirror
a
year
ago,
there's
a
parcel
on
the
waterfront
in
the
Seaport
District.
It
was
sold
by
the
BR
a
to
skanska
for
30
as
a
Swedish
investment
group
for
33
million
dollars
in
2013,
they
spent
about
126
million
building
a
new
office
building
three
years
later,
they
sold
it
for
I.
AC
Think
was
495
million
dollars
a
gain
of
close
to
300
million
dollars
that
they
pocketed
now
that
that
increased
in
value
at
the
Seaport
District
was
something
that
the
city
really
created
by
selling
off
the
land
at
a
without
for
a
song
without
really
getting
recapture
agreements
in
exchange,
which
most
other
kind
of
cities
in
Latin,
America
or
Canada
would
have
done.
They
didn't
do
that.
They
just
gave
it
away.
AC
Well,
if
there
had
been
say
a
30
percent
tax
on
a
recapture
for
if
for
a
gain,
that
would
have
been
90
million
dollars
from
that
one
transaction.
The
developer
so
would
have
had
a
couple
of
hundred
million
dollars
windfall
profit.
The
city
would
have
had
90
million.
Why
didn't
they
do
that?
Well,
they're!
Still
they
end
in
buildings
that
the
city
owns
and
that
and
that's
something
that
could
be
done
across
the
board
as
a
policy.
AC
At
least
we
can,
you
know,
start
getting
back
some
stuff,
some
recapture
from
these
land
land
and
building
parcels
going
forward.
So
those
are
three
specific
things
that
we
proposed
to
the
mirror.
A
year
ago,
in
a
coalition
meeting,
we're
seeking
another
coalition
meeting
with
the
mayor
to
include
to
encourage
inclusion
of
funds
in
the
new
budget
request.
That's
coming
before
you
in
a
couple
of
weeks,
and
we
appreciate
that
a
number
of
councillors
have
supported
this.
AC
There
were
nine
councillors
in
the
last
two
years
on
appreciate
councillor
Janey
signing
on
to
the
letter
new
letter
this
year.
They
still
haven't,
sent
it
over
so
there's
an
opportunity
for
all
the
councillors
to
sign
on,
but
it's
a
letter
to
the
mirror,
endorsing
the
notion
that
the
city's
budget
should
fund
low-income
rental
housing.
It's
a
modest
proposal
for
a
pilot
program.
We
would
like
to
see
a
more
robust
one
like
the
Rica
targeting
of
new
revenue
for
the
next
few
years.
AC
That
would
accomplish
the
same
objective,
but
it
would
be
enough
for
a
four
or
five
thousand
low-income
rent
subsidies
on
a
permanent
basis
just
by
taxing
the
revenue
from
these
luxury
condos.
So
those
are
the
three
specific
things
that
are
related
to
the
topic
of
today's
hearing
that
we
hope
you'll.
Consider
and
I
have
copies
of
the
letter
to
the
mirror.
From
a
year
ago,
that
first
proposed
those
those
measures,
our
most
recent
letter
and
the
legislation
from
1981
of
with
the
real
estate
speculation
proposal.
AD
AA
My
name
is
Sheree
Mills
I'm
here
representing
the
Boston,
almost
solidarity
committee.
The
committee
works
with
individuals
who
are
currently
homeless
to
address
their
needs
and
help
them
towards
finding
and
permanent,
affordable
housing.
We
as
a
group
are
supporting
the
city
rent
subsidy
proposal
as
a
way
to
help
these
individuals
that
we
work
with
towards
permanent,
affordable
housing
as
you've
all
heard.
You
know
there
is
a
crisis
of
you
know,
housing
these
days,
people
being
evicted,
because
you
know
the
owners
of
the
properties
want
to
make
more
money
and
they
send
people
to
the
street.
AA
AA
We
we
want
to
see
people
off
the
streets,
you
want
to
see
people
out
of
the
shelters,
and
you
know
this
proposal
would,
you
know,
add
to
the
mayor's
you
know
plan
to,
and
you
know
chronic
homelessness.
We're
trying
to
you
know
help
in
aid
in
his.
You
know
process
because
we
work
with
these
individuals
directly
and
many
of
the
individuals
actually
have
you
know
currently
have
vouchers,
but
they
don't
pay
enough
to.
You
know
get
them
in
housing.
We
all
know
that
I
mean
these
are
all
things
that
we've
all
heard.
AA
You
know
a
lot,
so
we
all
know
there's
there's
a
huge
issue
and
you
know,
as
Michael
said,
you
know
these
condos
are
popping
up.
You
know
why
not
you
say
you
know,
revenue
from
the
condos
to
create
vouchers,
I
think
that's
a
brilliant
idea.
You
know
it
would,
it
would
sustain.
You
know,
people
in
their
housing
move
who
maybe
can't
work
and
don't
have
any
income
to
work
to
afford
their
apartments
and
they
can't
work
so
I
think
you
know
we
need
to
look
towards.
AA
You
know
creating
a
good
solution
for
homelessness
and
housing
and
real
estate
speculation.
You
know
definitely,
obviously
the
issue
you've
heard
stories
of
how
it
affects
individuals
in
the
city
of
Boston.
We
all
know
people
instead
of
being
evicted,
you
know
so
owners
can
get
more
money
and
you
know
we
need
to
work
towards
combating
that
and
I
think
at
least
taxing
that
would
you
know
help
and
then
that
revenue
can
go
towards
creating
permanent,
affordable
housing
for
those
in
the
City
of
Boston.
AA
So
we
don't
lose
any
more
individuals
in
the
city
and
it
doesn't
become
more
gentrified,
and
you
know
we
want
to
keep
the
city
diverse
and
keep
the
people
who
are
here
stay
here.
You
guys
hear
from
community
members
all
the
time
about
how
they're
being
displaced
from
the
city,
because
of
the
lack
of
you
know
housing
that
they
can't
afford.
AA
So
we
need
to
work
towards
creative
solutions
and
work
together
and
many
groups
here
said
we
need
to
work
together
and
everyone
at
the
table
working
towards
the
solution,
not
individual
groups,
just
making
decisions
if
we
all
work
together-
and
you
know,
support
each
other
in
this
issue,
I
think
we'll
come
up
with
good
solution.
So
thank
you
for
allowing
me
to
speak
today.
Thank.
K
AD
AD
Okay.
This
is
just
an
aside.
So
when
I
was
listening
to
the
deal
so
when
I
was
listening
to
the
Department
of
Neighborhood
Development
and
BPD,
a
former
bre,
they
were
talking
about
Mis,
and
so
it
came
up
107,000
for
Greater,
Boston
60,000
for
Boston
and
of
course
we
know
about
the
35,000.
So
here's
what
I
want
to
see
whenever
someone
starts
talking
about
a
Mis,
here's,
what
I
want
to
say
to
them.
AD
Let's
think
of
the
minimum
wage,
the
minimum
wage
is
Boston
in
Massachusetts
is
really
good,
let's
say
$11
an
hour,
so
here's
my
calculation
and
I
do
this
all
the
time
at
$11
an
hour
for
five
hours.
For
one
day,
this
is
$88
for
five
days.
This
is
four
hundred
and
forty
dollars
for
a
week.
For
four
weeks
a
month,
the
person
is
earning
1761
thousand
seven
hundred
and
sixty
dollars
a
month
working
forty
hours
a
day,
minimum
40
hours
a
week,
minimum
wage.
AD
What
is
the
average
rent
in
Boston
I
live
in
South
Boston,
three
thousand
thirty,
four
hundred
thirty
six
hundred
that
person
who
is
working
minimum
wage
full
time
40
hours
a
week,
is
not
paying
enough
to
rent
an
apartment
in
Boston.
So
this
argument
about
M
eyes
and,
however,
it
is
calculated
and
the
differences
in
the
nuances
and
how
it
is
calculated,
doesn't
really
work
for
the
person
who
is
doing
minimum
wage
and
many
people
in
Boston
are
earning
minimum
wage.
AD
The
other
thing
I
want
to
talk
about
is
that
in
my
neighborhood
South
Boston,
we
heard
about
Jamaica
Plain.
We
heard
about
Dorchester.
We
know
it's
happening
all
around,
but
let
me
just
tell
you
a
little
something
quickly
about
South,
Boston
and
I
have
some
figures
added
back
here.
The
city
of
Boston
came
out
with
this.
AD
Imagine
Boston,
2030
and
I
was
part
one
of
those
going
around
with
the
imagine
Boston
and
here's
some
of
the
figures
for
South
Boston
between
I
believe
it
was
2000
and
2014,
and
if
I'm
off
there,
myths,
maybe
the
years
or
but
I,
believe
it's
between
2000
2014
in
South
Boston,
the
percentage
of
housing
stock
for
people
who
earn
50,000
or
less
fell
by
16%
and
for
those
earning
a
hundred
thousand
or
more
it
increased
by
24%,
South
Boston
locally
has
many
public
housing
developments.
I
live
in
one
of
them.
AD
If
you
remove
the
three
large
family,
public
housing
developments
in
South,
Boston
and
the
two
elderly
disabled
ones,
if
you
just
remove
this
subsidized
housing
from
the
housing
stock
in
South
Boston,
most
people
cannot
afford
to
live
in
South
Boston,
because
it
is
the
subsidized
housing
right
now
that
is
making
me
even
making
the
average
that
law
without
the
subsidized
housing
I
believe
the
average
would
be
somewhere
around
six
thousand
dollars
a
month.
So
here's
here's
what
I
want
to
see
America
has
always
been
about
real
estate
speculation.
AD
We
look
across
history
and
we
see
examples.
It
happened
in
Chicago.
I
saw
that
article
in
Boston
Magazine,
where
they
said
just
yesterday
about
rents
going
up
by
4%
this
year
and
DND.
They
had
their
own
new
ones,
calculation
again
for
South
Boston.
Last
year,
the
median
sales
price
for
a
one-family
was
seven
hundred
and
ninety
thousand
for
a
condo.
Last
year
it
was
six
hundred
and
fifty
five
thousand
a
two-family
in
South.
AD
Boston
is
one
thousand
eight
hundred
one
thousand
million
and
eighty
three
thousand
dollars
and
for
a
three
family
it
is
one
point
four
million
in
South
Boston.
Today.
Let
me
let
me
just
tell
you:
let
me
just
tell
you
this
says:
March
1st
2018
South
Boston,
today
Columbia
Road
price,
2.1
million,
how
much
thirty
nine
thousand
square
feet.
AD
It
goes
down
to
on
East,
8th,
Street,
1
million
to
Columbia
Road,
again
1
million,
and
it
goes
down
nine
hundred
and
fifty
nine
thousand
there's
one
two
three
four
at
eight
hundred
thousand
plus
one
at
seven
hundred
thousand
one,
two,
three
four
five,
six
hundred
thousand
two
three
five
hundred
thousand
one
at
four
hundred
thousand
the
cheapest
one
is
three
hundred
and
ninety
thousand.
This
is
South
Boston.
So
when
we
talk
about
real
estate
speculation
and
how
we
can
stop
it,
I
am
all
on
board.
AD
Sheila
Dillon
mentioned
a
regional
approach
and
I
believe
it
goes
beyond
the
regional
approach.
The
City
Council
also
has
to
work
with
the
state,
because
when
people
cannot
find
housing
in
Boston
and
they
are
pushed
outside,
it
also
becomes
a
state
issue.
Sherry
mentioned
different
groups
being
at
the
table.
The
DND
mentioned
they
talked
to
Harvard
and
they
talked
to
MIT.
Did
they
speak
to
any
of
the
people
who
were
here
in
the
room
earlier?
The
tenants,
the
people
like
Matt
and
all
the
groups
fighting
needed
to
be
at
the
table?
Tenon's
Tenon's?
AD
We
the
tenants,
the
people
who
live
in
the
city,
the
people
who
are
fighting
for
housing,
the
people
who
need
who
are
being
displaced.
We
need
to
be
at
the
table.
We
need
to
be
part
of
the
solution,
because
you
cannot
solve
my
problem
if
I
am
NOT
there
telling
you
about
my
problem,
so
I
have
some
suggestions.
Yes,
we
know,
Boston
is
a
unit.
City,
town
and
university
towns
are
prone
to
real-estate
speculation,
but
here's
some
other
things
we
need
to
look
at.
AD
We
need
to
look
at
the
role
of
the
credit
markets
who
is
lending
this
morning,
who
is
borrowing
this
morning
who
can
afford
to
borrow
this
morning?
We
need
to
look
at
the
role
of
the
government
and
policy
policymakers
like
Michael
mentioned
and
Matt
is
putting
forward
these
three
items
of
policy
this
to
dedicate
future
property
taxes
from
million
dollar
condos,
use
that
money
to
fund
low
income
subsidies
using
the
voluntary
recapture
agreements
for
new
developments,
and
this
graduated
tax
on
real
estate,
specific
speculation.
AD
These
are
things
we
can
do.
What
can
we
do?
You
can
work
with
the
hotels,
because
if
Airbnb
is
coming
in
and
using
this
unit
and
you
work
with
new
hotels,
they
will
be
on
your
side.
They
are
likely
to
support
you,
because
this
is
money
being
taken
away
from
them.
The
more
coalition
partners
you
have
the
stronger.
In
your
case,
you
can
look
at
preserving
public
housing,
preserving
public
housing,
not
passing
it
on
to
to
for-profit
developers,
but
preserving
public
housing,
and
we
are
possible
adding
to
public
housing
by
using
some
of
this.
AD
AD
Vouchers
we
can
weaken
these
are
things
we
can
do.
We
can
look
at
inclusionary
zoning
and
increasingly
percentages
of
low
income,
as
you
all
mentioned.
What
about
looking
at
the
right
of
first
refusal
for
people
who
are
in
these
buildings
and
how
and
expiring
use
buildings
preserving
expiring
use,
building
all
these
by
themselves,
working
together
help
to
prevent
speculation
in
a
sense
because
when
you
have
an
expiring
use
building
and
the
people
are
pushed
out
that
building
goes
back
on
the
open
market,
and
then
we
have
more
potential
for
speculation.
AD
Asking
the
City
Council,
if
necessarily
state,
to
define
log
theory,
because
I
walk
around
South,
Boston
and
they're,
this
cheap
cardboard
cut,
but
buildings
going
up,
they
put
on
a
facade
and
there's
a
sign
saying
luxury
just
so
they
can
charge
people
astronomical
rains.
And
if
you
look
at
that
definition
of
luxury
and
and
decide
what
is
luxury
and
what
is
not
luxury,
then
maybe
that
also
can
help
towards
mitigating
this
whole
circumstance.
Thank
you.
AE
Good
afternoon
my
name
is
actually
Richard
thought.
In
a
long
time,
executive
director,
the
JPAC
I,
was
thinking
it's
fitting
that
we're
coming
up
on
the
Boston
Marathon,
because
I've
always
thought.
That's
an
amazing
feat:
I,
don't
know
how
people
can
do
it,
but
it
takes
incredible
stamina
and-
and
you
to
have
have
a
shown
amazing
stamina,
to
be
here
as
well
as
all
the
other
folks.
So
I
want
to
I
want
to
thank
you
for
that.
You've
heard
so
much
eloquent
testimony.
AE
I
just
want
to
say
a
couple
of
things
which
is
you
know
when
we
went
in
to
meet
with
the
mayor.
Last
year
we
calculated
some
things
about
high-end
condo
sales
in
Boston,
in
2016
and
I.
Think
one
eye
has
shared
the
information
yeah
that
so
so
folks
on
our
staff,
just
within
the
last
day,
updated
the
information
for
2017
to
to
look
at.
You
know
a
condo
sales
that
are
publicly
recorded.
AE
At
least
you
know
two
and
a
half
million
dollars,
so
a
total
of
nine
hundred
million
dollars
just
of
the
publicly
available
data
in
two
years
of
the
condo,
and-
and
you
know
we
know-
there
are
some
factors
that
are
you
know,
literally
global-
an
impact
of
you
know
and
and
and
national
policy
about
rising
inequality
and
the
hyper
financialization
and
and
and
some
of
that
stuff
is
true
and
it's
very
frustrating
about
how
to
know
to
deal
with
it.
But
this
proposal
about
you
know
using
the
increased
resource
from
the
city.
AE
There
are
something
that
the
city
has
we
collectively
and
the
city
government
has
the
the
ability
and
the
power
to
say
we
can't
control
the
international
financial
markets,
but
we
can
control
how
at
least
some
of
those
resources
that
are
coming
from
that
incredible
wealth.
Get
directed
to
the
people
who
you
know
who
are
you
know
desperately
trying
to
get
out
of
homeless
shelter.
So
you
know
the
last
time
that
we
that
our
CDC
built
some
new
housing
in
Jackson,
Square,
39
apartments,
3,000,
you
know,
households
who
applied
and
that's
you
know.
AE
We
know
that
that's
played
out
across
the
city,
so
I
think
there.
There
really
is
an
opportunity
for
the
city
and
in
some
of
the
other
ways
that
were
talked
about
and
through
city
initiatives.
So
so
I
appreciate,
you
know
the
support
that
you
all
are
showing
and
hope
that
the
council
and
the
mayor
can
come
together
to
really
drive
forward
some
very
desperately
needed
measures.
Thank
you.
AF
A
AF
A
AF
My
name
is
Sarah
wenig
I
live
in
the
Back
Bay.
This
hearing
couldn't
be
more
timely
for
me,
because
I
am,
at
the
tail
end
of
a
ten
year,
fight
to
save
low-income
housing,
single
room,
occupancy
housing
on
Newberry
Street,
on
Marlborough
Street
of
all
places,
and
the
good
news
is
that
we
may
have
gotten
some
money
to
go
towards
affordable
housing.
But
the
bad
news
is
that
we
are
losing
those
units,
and
that
is
really
very
disappointing
under
the
circumstances.
AF
AF
What
this
was
was
a
deceptive
transaction
and
where
there
is
speculation
on
small
properties
with
basically
individual
tenants
or
small
groups
of
people,
you're
going
to
find
deception
and
I
would
encourage
the
city
to
look
more
at
these
transactions
for
deception.
The
deception
that
I
found
with
this
particular
deal,
and
it
raises
the
point
of
what
counsel
Murphy
said
that
there
needs
to
be
a
united
front,
but
there
needs
to
be
a
united
front.
That
goes
beyond
City
Hall
and
municipal
departments,
in
my
case
the
Secretary
of
State's
office.
AF
Let
some
applications
for
low
income
tax
breaks
and
for
their
corporate
filings
go
go
unchallenged,
and
this
happens.
This
can
happen
a
lot
when
there
are
certain
lawyers
and
very
experienced
real
estate.
People
involved
I
would
like
to
say
that
as
a
somebody
who
was
a
real
estate
agent
for
a
very
long
time
in
Manhattan,
dealing
with
early
successors,
early
forms
of
BN
B
is
that
condo
conversions
are
most
definitely
alright,
most
definitely
a
driver
of
displacements
when
it
comes
to
individual
buyers
that
are
now
going
to
be
courted
from
overseas
and.
AF
You
know
multiple
units
overseas
or
two
clients
and
if
not,
there's
nothing,
you
can't
stop
a
real-estate
speculation,
but
there
is
no
efforts
to
raise
the
consciousness
of
these
law
firms
that
are
selling
these
opportunities
and
we're
even
going
to
get
there
or
even
entities
that
are
selling
right
now.
Boston
apartments
and
Boston
condos
pre-construction
on
a
pre-construction
basis
overseas.
AF
So
we
really
have
to
look
at
how
those
are
marketed,
how
you
find
out
whether
our
properties
are
bayman
boss,
clearing
bought
by
people
from
overseas
as
you
go
to
the
real
estate
community,
the
real
estate
brokers,
and
they
are
the
people
who
have
a
lot
of
information
for
you.
Thank
you
very
much
for
this
opportunity.
Thank.
A
AG
My
name
is
Betty
Lowe
and
I'm.
A
resident
of
Medford
Massachusetts
I
was
a
boston
resident.
Originally
I
was
born
here
and
raised
in
the
area.
I
went
to
Suffolk
University
at
a
time
when
it
was
developing
more
student
housing,
downtown
housing,
that's
beyond
the
reach
of
housing
had
prices
that
are
beyond
the
reach
of
many
low
income
residents.
Many
long-term
residents
of
Boston
I
work
at
Cambridge,
Innovation
Center
in
the
finance
department.
I
am
31
this
year
and
I've
seen
a
lot
of
changes
happening
in
the
Greater
Boston
area.
AG
When
I
was
young,
I
lived
on
Tremont
and
South
Charles
streets
in
the
theater
district
I
lived
there
for
the
first
five
years
of
my
life
before
we
moved
to
Medford
in
1993,
and
we
spent
my
whole
childhood
coming
back
to
Boston
coming
back
to
Chinatown,
because
that
was
how
important
the
community
and
the
civic
organizations
that
were
there
that
served
Chinese
immigrants.
That's
how
important
that
those
organizations
and
those
connections
were
to
my
family
when
I
was
growing
up.
AG
Both
cities,
Medford
and
Boston,
has
given
my
family
ample
opportunities,
and
we
have
made
great
strides
since
my
childhood,
but
like
I,
don't
feel
like
it
can
do
that
justice
without
bringing
up
matters
of
racial
equity
in
the
city
as
a
lifelong
resident
of
this
area,
I
think
we
enjoy
a
reputation
of
being
racially
inclusive
but
I.
Sadly,
don't
think
that
the
reality
completely
bears
that
out.
I
think
it's
more
of
an
image
than
the
reality
and
we
may
be
inclusive
and
welcoming
to
most
people
of
color,
but
anti
blackness
is
a
reality
here.
AG
AG
This
is
largely
because
of
the
policy
of
redlining
in
the
social
phenomenon
of
white
flight
from
neighborhoods,
where
people
of
color
start
moving
in
white
residents
start
moving
out
altering
the
composition
of
neighborhoods
I.
Had
a
black
colleague
whose
mother
was
red
lined
out
of
Somerville
in
the
cemani
s,
whereas
in
contrast
with
my
own
family
story
in
the
90s
we
suffered.
No
such
thing
when
we
were
trying
to
buy
in
Medford
I
have
grave
fears
today
that
others
may
not
have
had
the
same
chances
may
not
have
the
same
chances.
AG
AG
I've
watched
both
Boston's
Chinatown
and
my
president
hometown
of
Medford
change
in
dramatic
ways
over
the
years
such
that
opportunities
and
welcoming
public
spaces
for
low-income
and
working
class
families
are
fewer.
Now
in
Medford,
we
recently
stopped
a
mostly
market
rate
development
of
four
hundred
ninety
units
near
Route
16.
It's
an
area
that
are
deals
with
congestion
and
being
underserved
by
Public
Works,
the
developer.
There
was
equity
one
and
they
had
asked
for
an
unprecedented
11
zoning
variances
for
that
development.
Luckily,
we
were
able
to
stop
them.
AG
However,
the
problem
continues
in
Medford,
where
somebody
else
had
spoken
earlier
about
one
and
two
family:
how
houses
being
flipped
being
condo
eyes,
being
flipped
and
being
redeveloped
into
condos,
which
prices
out
the
senior
citizens
and
alone
citizens
of
Medford
blight.
Again
was
another
thing
that
was
brought
up
earlier.
That's
also
an
issue
for
us.
AG
So
a
blight
tax
is
needed
in
Medford,
too
I
could
speak
to
the
difficulty
as
well
of
following
developers.
Movements
in
our
city
in
Medford,
just
like
in
Jamaica
Plain,
we're
just
constantly
being
surprised
by
what
the
Zoning
Board.
What's
on
the
Zoning
Board
agenda.
What's
in
the
zoning
meeting
agendas
and
we're
also
getting
blindsided
by
just
kind
of
how
little
engagement
and
support
we're
seeing
from
our
city
officials,
so
you
know
kind
of
I'm
glad
to
see
that
you're
putting
on
this
forum
and
are
far
more
engaged
in
thinking
about
this.
AG
This
issue,
more
than
at
least
you
know
what
my
City
Council
what's
doing
before.
So
thank
you
for
that.
Thank
you.
So
you
know
the
fight
continues
there
and
MAPC,
which
was
brought
up
earlier
as
well.
That's
also
developing
our
square,
so
I'm,
hoping
to
and
I
was
heartened
to
hear
that
MAPC
is
looking
throughout
the
region
for
solutions
to
the
housing
crisis
that
affects
all
of
all
of
our
cities.
AG
A
AG
I
just
want
to
my
conclusion
was
that
you
know
cities
really
need
to
step
in
city
governments,
state
governments,
the
federal
government
absolutely
needs
to
step
into
this
crisis
and
do
something
about
and
really
put
its
foot
down
with
developers
like
I
agree
with.
You
know
all
of
us
coming
to
the
table,
but
we
need
to
think
about
the
power
disparities
at
play
here.
You
know
developers,
investors,
they
have
so
much
money.
Speculation
carries
risks,
but
that's
risks
that
sophisticated
investors
are
supposed
to
be
able
to
bear.
AG
Whereas
your
tears,
when
you
talk
about
working
cost
families,
you
know
people
running
restaurants,
people
working
in
restaurants,
people
working
in
you
know,
whatever
you
know,
minimum-wage
jobs.
What
power
do
they
have
to
resist?
You
know
international
money
and
sophisticated
investors.
Corporate
developers,
all
these
LLC's
that
get
to
kind
of
stay
opaque.
AG
E
My
name
is
Dan
Bailey
I'm,
an
East
Boston
resident
I,
want
to
thank
you
for
holding
this
forum
and
thank
you
for
staying
late
to
make
sure
one
has
a
chance
to
talk.
I
just
want
to
talk
very
briefly
about
how
I've
seen
this
issue
impact
my
neighborhood
in
East
Boston
for
over
a
hundred
years,
home
ownership
in
East
Boston
has
allowed
people
to
experience
social
and
economic
mobility
and
that's
particularly
true
of
multifamily
honam,
home
ownership,
rental
income
and
growing
home
equity
provide
a
way
for
generations
of
immigrants
and
working
families
to
get
ahead.
E
Today,
the
multifamily
housing
market
in
East
Boston
is
dominated
by
corporate
developers
and
corporate
landlords,
all
of
which
puts
homeownership
increasingly
out
of
reach
of
individuals
and
families.
In
the
past,
the
wealth
that
was
generated
from
rental
income
and
home
equity
mostly
went
to
folks
who
lived
in
East,
Boston
or
nearby,
so
the
money
stayed
in
the
community,
but
today
the
wealth
generated
by
homeownership
in
East
Boston
increasingly
goes
to
outside
corporations
and
their
investors,
and
we
sometimes
talk
about
developers.
E
Investing
in
the
community,
but
a
lot
of
the
development
activity
happening
in
East
Boston
now
involves
systematically
extracting
wealth
from
the
community
as
money
that
once
went
to
families
and
community
members
now
goes
to
outside
corporations,
we're
carrying
out
an
experiment
and
wealth
redistribution,
and
we
don't
know
what
the
long-term
consequences
will
be.
I,
don't
imagine.
The
community
will
win
it's
easy
to
blame
developers
for
this
problem,
but
the
city
has
a
role
and
implementing
and
enforcing
policies
and
regulations
around
this
and
a
core
issue
here,
that's
been
addressed.
Only
briefly
today
is
zoning.
E
The
city
now
has
a
lack
of
fair,
transparent
and
at
force
zoning
code,
which
is
only
encouraged
speculative
development
and
runaway
housing
costs.
How
can
we
expect
to
address
the
problem
of
housing
speculation
when
the
city
is
unable
or
unwilling
to
define
what
can
and
can't
be
built
on
a
given
parcel
of
land
Boston's
current
approach
to
development
is
failing
us.
Most
development
approvals
happen
outside
of
the
defined
zoning
code.
E
It's
unpredictable,
opaque
and
highly
transactional,
and
at
minimum
it
has
the
appearance
of
corruption,
the
Zoning
Board
of
Appeals,
a
group
of
seven
political
appointees,
with
limited
public
accountability,
grant
and
zoning
relief
to
719
projects
last
year.
This
is
not
how
a
city
plans
for
its
future.
This
is
a
city.
That's
failing
to
manage
and
guide
its
own
growth.
I
understand
that
zoning
in
East
Boston
hasn't
changed
in
decades,
but
the
appropriate
response
when
zoning
is
outdated
is
to
update
it
not
to
ignore
it
and
to
flout
existing
zoning
laws.
E
E
A
AH
Thank
you,
counselor
I
feel
giff
Fiat
Noah
in
East
Boston,
a
couple
things
that
work
and
a
couple
things
that
could
be
working,
but
people
mentioned
the
state
I
think
that
they
have
a
role
to
play
here.
I
think
a
couple
of
the
councillors
could
go
meet
with
crystal
Carnegie
and
I
think
get
some
money
out
of
mass
housing.
Maybe
a
few
others
to
match
the
DND
program.
I
think
that,
as
Dan
mentioned
on
zoning,
and
as
Mike
mentioned
on
his
paper
and
mrs.
AH
Chen
over
at
the
Chinese
breast
Association,
there
are
some
taxes
and
fees
and
that
kind
of
thing
I
think
that
the
council
should
work
with
the
mayor
to
impose
upon
developers
as
they
keep
flipping
properties.
I'd
like
to
have
given
my
card
to
CBRE
and
mr.
Perry,
because
I
don't
think
their
interests
are
really
in
stabilizing
neighborhoods.
Every
time
I
see
CBA
Ari
listed
it's
the
highest
and
best
price
that
a
little
afraid
of
that
with
what's
happening.
AH
AH
Think
I'm
not
going
to
do
all
that
in
public
right
now,
but
I
think
there's
ways
in
which
Suffolk
Downs
in
hym
and
the
city
NOAA
working
with
the
CDC
again
an
aileron
when
we
were
designated
I,
have
to
say
DoD's
I
think
it's
done
a
very
good
job.
It's
a
tough
job.
They
need
more
staff.
You
can
put
more
money
in
their
budget,
I'm
sure
they'd,
appreciate
more
staff
might
as
well
say
that
to
them
and
they'd
appreciate
that
I
hope
so.
AH
I
think
that
with
the
aileron
artist
project,
just
for
the
record
I
think
we
were
selected
over
I
think
an
aggressive
outside
private
developer,
who's
gotten
a
couple.
Other
developments
in
the
city
so
again,
you'll
see
us
working
with
the
neighborhood
as
I.
Think
that's
our
goal,
work
with
the
community
and
the
neighborhood
associations
on
climate
change,
on
neighborhood
preservation
and
whatnot.
So,
right
now
again
for
the
record,
the
DND
or
the
mayor,
Walsh
program,
I
called
acquisition,
Opportunity
Program,
we
purchased
12
buildings.
Already
we've
got
two
would
close
on.
AH
We
need
a
lot
more
money,
we're
aiming
not
at
a
hundred
units
but
in
a
hundred
buildings
I
think
we
should
get
there
as
soon
as
possible.
Again
there
is
no.
There
is
no
waiting
time
between
now
and
displacement.
I
think
the
city
recognizes
that
as
an
effective
program,
but
when
we
bought
our
first
program
a
little
less
than
about
a
year
and
a
half
ago
it
was
six
hundred
seventy
five
thousand
dollars
on
Saratoga
Street.
AH
Now
a
little
bit
up
the
road
on
upper
Saratoga,
Street,
they're
selling
it
for
one
point:
two:
eight
five
million
dollars
for
it's,
probably
a
larger
three-decker,
but
everything
that
gets
sold
they
up
it
for
the
next
level.
Everything
now
is
being
conned
away,
so
you
have
a
three-decker:
it's
not
a
rental
property
anymore,
it's
being
marketed!
You
look
at
any
listing,
they're
all
being
sold
for
future
condos
Asians
and
that's
what
everything
says:
it's
not
illegal,
but
let's
not
pretend
that
anybody
has
an
interest
in
sort
of
preserving
the
neighborhood.
AH
It's
all
changed
throughout
the
city.
It's
not
just
East
Boston,
but
it's
affecting
us
really
terribly
now,
but
we
have
make
that
an
effective
program
because,
as
we've
done
these,
let's
call
them
14
buildings.
Now
you
couldn't
build
the
39
units
that
we've
built
in
the
past
year
doing
the
normal
one-stop
process.
We
still
need
that,
but
we
need
more
acquisition
money
with
the
city
working
with
community
housing,
capital
NeighborWorks
and
maybe
the
Boston
community
loan
fund
to
buy
more
of
these
properties.
I
would
add
that
the
this
is
not
an
aside.
AH
I
would
say
that
Massport
commits
9
to
12
or
15
million
dollars
a
year
on
pilot
programs.
That's
money
that
goes
into
the
city's
general
fund.
You'll,
never
see
it
again.
So
as
a
councillor
from
East
Boston
you
may
want
to
find.
Is
there
a
way
that
some
of
that
could
be
targeted
to
our
neighborhood
to
apply
to
acquisition
to
help
with
either
the
project
that
I
mentioned
with
the
Health
Center
I?
Think
again,
we
should
be
a
partner
with
them,
not
another,
not
a
in
opposition,
but
I
do
really
fear.
AH
The
highest
price
is
going
to
yield
the
most
density
and
no
knit
rivet
process
we'll
all
be
fighting
each
other
again,
I
think
if
we
and
the
CDC
get
it
and
I
think
we'll
pay,
a
fair
price
could
solve
a
lot
of
problems.
I
won't
go
into
the
law
here,
boo
be
happy
to
work
with
Dan
in
that
neighborhood
going
Street
Association
others,
you
may
have
an
interest
in
that
keep
talking.
I
bought
our
building
in
1971
for
$12,500,
or
our
mortgage
was
eighty
one
dollars
a
month.
AH
AI
It's
me
gonna
close
the
club
today,
hello,
I'm,
thank
you
for
really
going
down
the
list
and
accepting
everyone's
testimony,
and
it
was
very
moving
afternoon.
I've
worked
with
many
of
the
folks
that
that
you
came
here
and
heard
from,
and
I'm
really
glad
to
see
that
that
there's
movement
going
forward
in
the
City
Council
about
what
additional
steps
we
can
take
against
displacement
and
against
the
negative
impacts
of
speculation
that
we're
seeing
in
the
neighborhoods.
AI
AI
We
need
to
look
at
policies
that
will
get
more
housing
out
of
this
market.
That
has
so
many
perverse
incentives
that
has
so
much
destructive
effect
on
people's
lives.
So,
hopefully,
we'll
see
some
policies
coming
forward
where
we
can
maybe
link
the
revenue
that
may
come
in
from
anti
speculation.
Tax,
anti
flipping
anti
vacancy
tax
sounds
great
to
me,
I
ride
by
every
week
the
you
know
the
old
Bella
Luna,
the
old.
AI
You
know,
bikes,
not
bomb
sites
and
a
lot
of
small
businesses
that
have
been
displaced,
and
you
know,
15
years
later,
they're
still
empty,
I
still
spit
at
them
and
curse
the
name
of
the
landlord
that
owns
them,
and
so,
when
we
get
those
put
in
place,
we
need
to
take
the
revenue
from
that
and
earmark
it
towards
getting
more
of
these
land
trusts
active,
getting
more
housing
off
of
the
market.
We
need
to
set
some
goals
for
having
you
know
a
healthier
percentage
of
the
housing
in
Boston
not
be
subject
to
this
speculative
market.
AI
That's
what
I
really
hope
to
see
as
a
resident
as
a
homeowner
in
Jamaica
Plain,
you
know,
live
very
close
by
a
longtime
patron
of
Allen
Bahadur
and
you
know,
I
feel,
like
my
family
will
be
impacted
by
the
lack
of
access
to
services
that
we're
losing
because
of
people
being
being
gentrified
out
and
being
speculated
out
and
I.
Think
that
it's
very
interesting
if
you
go
by
the
building
that
was
under
discussion
earlier,
it's
a
big
sign
Walsh
for
mayor
and
I.
AI
Getting
caught
up
in
the
deportation
system
and
I
think
that
there's
a
lot
of
new
voters
being
registered
I
was
one
of
the
folks
with
Mimi
Ramos.
You
know
going
out
knocking
doors
in
East
Boston
in
Charlestown,
in
Jamaica,
Plain
in
Roxbury
and
Roslindale,
and
so
I
think
that
politicians
that
put
profit
over
people
are
they're
going
to
have
a
little
bit
of
a
wake-up
call.
Thank
you.
AJ
Lifelong
East,
Boston
resident
I'm,
just
gonna,
run
through
a
few
solutions.
You
guys
can
consider
rather
than
issue
since
you've
heard
that
all
day,
first
of
all,
we
shouldn't
be
relying
on
the
HUD
a.m.
eyes:
affordable,
medium
incomes,
that's
on
a
regional
level,
and
we
should
really
really
be
looking
at
Boston
on
a
macro
micro
level
in
regards
to
average
medium
incomes
and
defining
what
is
a
medium
income
versus
a
working-class,
medium
income,
because
that
varies
in
regards
to
all
of
our
races
in
here
in
Boston.
AJ
Another
thing
is
that
we
should
consider
capping
percentage
of
parking
in
development-oriented
in
transit,
oriented
developments.
Yesterday,
I
went
to
a
housing
meeting
and
I
was
at
37
37
living
units.
There
were
35
parking
spots,
which
makes
no
sense
if
you're
a
transit,
oriented
development.
If
maverick
station
is
a
less
than
a
10-minute
walk,
then
why
do
we
need
such
a
large
amount
of
parking
when
that
could
be
reutilized
for
something
communal
base
like
community
garden,
etc?
AJ
Another
solution
is
creating
a
Technical,
Assistance
Program
and
creating
a
campaign
to
not
prioritize
but
to
revitalize
what
a
Community
Land
Trust
is.
You
know
we're
a
lot
of
land
here
is
not
protected
in
regards
to
these
rising
costs
and
a
Community
Land
Trust
could
really
help
mitigate
that
problem
and
create
a
new
competitor
for
these
developers.
You
know,
what's
lacking
here
are
nonprofit
competition
for
these
developers.
You
know
if
they're,
the
only
ones
playing
game
along
with
us
and
who
are
they
competing
against?
Oh,
it's
who
who's
playing
here.
Another
suggestion
can
be
creating.
AJ
I
know
this
could
be
a
waste
of
time,
but
a
guideline
to
gentrify.
Alongside
with
looking
at
current
TPS
and
daca
homeowners,
and
since
these
current
you
know
these
current
immigrant
statuses
are
in
danger
of
losing
their
protection.
We
should
create
a
plan
to
how
to
you
know
who
will
this
ownership
go
to
next,
those
who
are
TPS
owners
and
daca
homeowners.
AJ
Another
is
looking
at
more
looking
at
alternative
business
models
in
regards
to
affordable
housing
or
housing.
That's
more
affordable,
like
cooperatives,
you
know
one
of
the
biggest
issues
and
the
housing
crisis
is
the
fact
that
there's
not
enough
supply
low
vacancy
rates
rising
up
cost,
alongside
with
the
fact
that
the
amounts
of
low-income
people
are
just
rising.
AJ
You
know
these
these
people
and
stuck
in
these
social
classes,
they're
stuck
where,
where
is
their
pipeline
to
growth
in
regards
to
capital,
we
could
create
more
technical
assistance
programs
to
guide
them
on
how
to
better
save,
let's
put
away
$10
of
this
paycheck
every
week.
How
do
we?
How
do
we
incentivize
more
programs
like
this,
to
bring
up
these
savings
and
assets
of
lower-income
people,
families,
communities?
AJ
Another
would
be
as
rated
before
you
know.
How
do
we
pump
in
more
money
to
these
nonprofits
already
doing
work?
How
do
we
pumpup,
you
know
their
budgets
to
see
more
work
done
in
the
communal
basis?
You
know
City
Hall,
there
you're
not
gonna,
be
in
every
neighborhood
all
the
time
you
know,
but
these
organizations
currently
are.
So
how
do?
How
do
we
revamp
their
their
budget
to
help
with
their
causes,
see
like
for
bono,
for
example,
they
have
for
staff
kind
of
percent
dedicated
to
to
make
a
plane.
AJ
They
have
one
staff
in
East
Boston,
that's
not
fair,
but
I
know.
City
life
was
founded
and
Jamaica
Plain,
so
they
have
their
privatizations
there.
But
you
know
there:
that's
that's
a
giant
difference
and
right
now
the
neighborhoods
that
are
being
impacted.
The
most
is
East
Boston,
Mattapan
and
I.
Don't
really
see
much
work
being
done
there
in
regards
to
having
more
staff
having
more
foot
soldiers,
you
know
fighting
the
fighting
in
fight.
Second,
how
do
we
create
more
festivities,
more
community
events
that
connects
people
from
East,
Boston
and
Jamaica
Plain?
AJ
AJ
AJ
Last
last
point:
we
have
to
start
tracking
displacement
and
we
have
to
start
tracking
where
you
know,
capital
investments
are
being
done
who
so
in
regards
to
that
tracking
displacement,
and
who
are
these
loans
and
mortgages
more
to
get
mortgages
going
to
and
that'd
be
a
great
way
to.
You
know
measure
that
disparity
and
that's
that
thank.