{"id":20600,"date":"2024-11-04T14:42:13","date_gmt":"2024-11-04T14:42:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/realtorparty.realtor\/?p=20600"},"modified":"2024-11-04T15:40:33","modified_gmt":"2024-11-04T15:40:33","slug":"santa-fe-realtors-promote-diverse-housing-options-in-housing-strapped-region-2-3-2-2-3-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-3-3-2-3-2-2-2-2-2-2-4-2-4-2-2-3-2-4-2-2-3-2-2-2-2-3-3-2-2-3-2-2-2-3-2-3-2-2-2-2-3-3-2-2-2-3-2-2-32","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/realtorparty.realtor\/homepage\/success-story\/gbreb-im1124","title":{"rendered":"Campaign by Greater Boston Real Estate Board Educates Public About Realities of Rent Control and Convinces Medford City Council to Reconsider"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>When a rent control measure was proposed by the City of Medford earlier this year, the Greater Boston Real Estate Board took action.\u00a0 Recognizing that the root of the area\u2019s affordable housing crisis is a dearth of inventory, it launched a public-facing campaign to shed light on the fact that the city was not making full use of the tools already at its disposal to create new affordable housing for the community.\u00a0 The measure was withdrawn, and there are promising signs that the City Council is now focused on housing production. \u00a0An Issues Mobilization Grant<\/a> from the REALTOR\u00ae<\/sup> Party helped make the campaign possible.<\/p>\n

As GBREB Government Affairs Director Patricia Baumer explains, the vacancy rate in the Boston area is very low, land is expensive, and in Medford, home to Tufts University, a sizable student population lives off-campus in rented housing.\u00a0 \u201cWe all agree on the need for additional housing.\u00a0 \u00a0What we disagree about is rent control.\u00a0 We saw that if the City wanted to lean in to housing, there are two tools that could be more fully leveraged to produce housing and take pressure off the market.<\/p>\n

Both tools that Baumer cites are existing state law supported by the REALTORS\u00ae<\/sup>.\u00a0 One is the Community Preservation Act, As written, it allows for a property tax surcharge up to 3% at the discretion of voters to be applied toward housing development in Medford; that surcharge is currently at only 1.5%.\u00a0 \u00a0In addition, a 2023 study done the Center for State Policy Analysis at Tufts University funded by GBREB with the support NAR found that Medford was missing an opportunity to fund housing through the CPA.\u00a0 Instead of leveraging existing revenue streams to fund housing Medford was prioritizing open space and historic preservation, with housing as a share of spending at: 21%, historic preservation 35.9% and open space and recreation at \u00a043.1% . \u00a0The second tool is the Comprehensive Permit Law, which, since 1969, has required communities in Massachusetts to build 10% affordable housing.\u00a0 Medford, with a current rate of 6.87%, is not meeting its obligation. \u00a0\u201cIn other words, the City still had some work to do using the tools that exist,\u201d asserts Baumer.<\/p>\n

To make sure the community was focused on the real issue \u2013 the affordable housing inventory \u2013 GBREB secured funding from the REALTOR\u00ae<\/sup> Party for an awareness campaign to educate the public and the City Council, a majority of whose members are renters, about the under-utilized avenues to developing more housing in Medford. \u00a0Working with Real Strategies, a firm partnering with the National Association of REALTORS\u00ae<\/sup>, the board devised a multifaceted campaign targeting the Mayor and City Council directly with patch-through calls, text messaging, and postcards.\u00a0 GBREB\u2019s local PR firm developed a dedicated website, messaging, and digital ads.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re very lucky that we have REALTORS\u00ae<\/sup> active on the zoning front, which is the third avenue open to the City Council when it comes to increasing affordable housing,\u201d notes Baumer.\u00a0 \u201cBeyond the resources available from NAR, it\u2019s the local REALTORS\u00ae<\/sup> on the ground and in the neighborhoods who are the secret sauce of successful advocacy.\u00a0 REALTORS\u00ae<\/sup> are the ones who advocate for homeowners, who have no trade association.\u00a0 And until you see people around you who care about an issue, it\u2019s hard to take that first step towards involvement.\u201d\u00a0 In Medford, local REALTORS\u00ae<\/sup> met with elected officials, answered the Call for Action, and testified at the public hearing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would like to think our campaign helped raise awareness of the powers the City Council does have to improve housing affordability,\u201d says Baumer.\u00a0 \u201cThey seem to be taking it to heart and tackling some of the zoning barriers.\u00a0 It\u2019s hard and contentious work, but that\u2019s what\u2019s going to solve the problem.\u201d<\/p>\n

To learn more about how the Greater Boston Real Estate Board is working to promote an increase in the area\u2019s affordable housing, contact Government Affairs Director Patricia Baumer at pbaumer@greb.com<\/a> or 617.399.7858.\u00a0 To view the campaign website, visit: protectmedford.com<\/a>; \u00a0\u00a0a pre-roll video is at: https:\/\/youtu.be\/aMQDF3NEexY<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With support from an Issues Mobilization Grant from the REALTOR\u00ae Party, the Greater Boston Real Estate Board faced down a proposed rent control measure in the City of Medford with the power of information: a multi-faceted campaign showing the voting public \u2013 and the City Council \u2013 that the city hadn\u2019t maximized the tools already at its disposal to increase affordable housing.","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":20647,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[33,296],"tags":[936,414,500,1715,1849,1851,1847,1848,1850],"class_list":["post-20600","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-success-stories","category-success-story","tag-greater-boston","tag-issues-mobilization","tag-massachusetts","tag-massachusetts-association-of-realtors","tag-real-estate-community-engagement","tag-real-estate-legislative-success","tag-realtor-advocacy-success-story","tag-realtor-party-achievements","tag-realtor-political-advocacy"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/realtorparty.realtor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20600","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/realtorparty.realtor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/realtorparty.realtor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realtorparty.realtor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realtorparty.realtor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20600"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/realtorparty.realtor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20600\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21125,"href":"https:\/\/realtorparty.realtor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20600\/revisions\/21125"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realtorparty.realtor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20647"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/realtorparty.realtor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20600"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realtorparty.realtor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20600"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realtorparty.realtor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}