Housing, Community Development and Equity Committee

Good evening. This is the Committee for Housing and Community Development and Equity Committee. I am City Councilor-at-Large Kristin Strato. Today is Wednesday, April 15th, 2026, and it is 6.02 p.m. We are broadcasting this meeting live in person. hybrid setting, and a life post meeting to order. All right, this is roll call. Councilor Sait. Here.

Councilor Lee. Church Dress-Up. I hope you enjoyed this a little bit. We don't have new resources. So, we're soon to Chapter 2 of the Act, and I would like to see if the city council committee would be conducting a review. Don't be worried when you report anything before it is recorded in the proceedings.

As soon as possible, you can immediately see it simply one second before it is successfully recorded. Also, our first item in the agenda is the committee minutes for item 36036. 36036. January 28th, 2006. That's January 24th, 2006. So 3 of 4, 2 of the 28th. So our first item piece is item 260.0.0 that the director wants.

and the rest of the group. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Sure, I'm going to go through briefly some of the data that I presented in the memorandum that was drawn out last week. But to update you on where things are with the Office of Health Disability and the issues that we work on. So first, we just reported some OHS case data. I would note this document the last time we came in here and we spoke with you to update you data was through September of 2025 so this period that I'm talking about now is a five month period from October 2025 to the end of February and during that five-month period we had Aboff,

So we have about 94 unique new requests for assistance each month. Some data about this is that 37% of those 6% of those referrals were at risk of displacement. And of those at risk of displacement, 94 had already received a notice of quit or summary process complaint, which formally starts the process. about half of these residents spoke a language other than English which as you know is disproportionate to the populations in Somerville so it does tell us that a lot of the housing instability is greatest in our communities and we also had in addition to that about a quarter of the households that reached out to services for us requesting assistance to pay for over and

Moving on in terms of rental assistance, we had about 27 households that we worked with applications for rental assistance during that time period. Between all three programs, CAS, the Homeless Coalition, and RAP, State Rental Assistance Program During this five-month period, we paid out $485,000 approximately in rental assistance, both for startup costs, rental assistance for years, and prospective rent on behalf of some of the Residence. And what I thought I would do is just do a little comparison of this five month period compared to last year. I think probably everybody who knows that we are looking at a tough Financial situation in the city here. So we had in the past about $2.1 million in funding annually for rental assistance. That money is scheduled to be depleted in the fall. I think the mayor and I

I hope everybody will do their best to figure out sources of funds to have a robust program going forward. But in anticipation of this, We have tightened our criteria a little bit. So we're trying to figure out how tightening of criteria may or may not So in the period of January of 2025 through September of 2025, we paid out an average, we paid out $259,000 a month. In the last five months, it is now less than half. So it was $97,000 a month, which is, again, a little bit less than half the amount it had been paid. I'd say a couple of things about that. One is that we have tight criteria, so where there are people that are coming back again and again and again, we look at what the housing stability plans are, we try to look at what we

We've been a little stricter at saying here are the four things that you're supposed to do and maybe they did them and maybe they didn't. So some changes due to that. The criteria. Also, there were periods where either CAS or SAC were closed, particularly around the holidays. You know, this goes over December. Part of January. So I think some of the reduction in amount of money paid out was due to staff closures or people closing down intake sort of between, I'd say, in December and June. So we'll see in the next report where we are and how much we're spending a month going forward in rental assistance. And as you'll see, it doesn't look yet like this is impacted on the eviction data. But I want to be honest in saying, well, if we're giving out less mental assistance at some point, it is inevitable that there will be some increase in the number of patients based on that.

and just turning to the eviction data for a moment you can see um there were in this five month period 105 summary process cases filed and non-payment of rent, 86% of those cases are from that. So we can show you again, as I say, directly, the rental assistance is so clearly linked to the overall number of people that are likely to find themselves with executions or being evicted. In this time period, though, the number of executions were 22 and the rate actually has stayed fairly constant. So in the year, in the full year of 2025, We had an average of 4.2 executions. And just for the audience and if anybody doesn't know, an execution is the piece of paper that allows the sheriff to move somebody's

and the Constable. Mostly because of credulousness. That if we find somebody, even if they didn't get to us all the way until after their court process and after a judgment against them, sometimes if we can pay a career in case, and the landlord doesn't think the same thing is going to happen the next month because they just don't have enough money, we can sometimes resolve these cases even at that late stage. I did provide you guys with a chart to compare the rates of executions from the different cities and towns that are near us for this five month Period. The one I'm really baffled about is Medford because they had a high rate of executions last month. But as you can see, Ours in Somerville is our rate of our execution for 1,000 households in poverty.

We wanted to make sure we were looking at apples to apples as we compared how we're doing to how other cities are doing. So we're looking at the number of executions for evictions for every thousand people. So you can see from this document that we have about a third the rate of evictions or executions as Malden. Medford here is very low but they were super high last time so I'm not sure what that reflects we're very similar to Cambridge about three we had 311 they had 302 and Waltham you can see is almost double the rates of um And again, I'm going to say execution. I can't know how many of those folks actually would work with the number of executions. So we're still doing... About parallel to Cambridge, which really makes sense because Cambridge also has robust rental assistance programs, legal assistance programs, it's kind of similar.

to what we are doing here in Somerville so those numbers and as you can see the rates of execution for eviction are way lower than in some of the other neighboring communities um and we only other thing and so again at this point The lower amount of rental assistance, I think it makes sense that lowering amounts of assistance would not catch up to numbers for a while still. So I think we have to wait at least another quarter or two quarters To see how things shake out in terms of are we achieving spending out less money for rental assistance but still keeping people in their homes? Or are we losing a significant number because we're unable to continue the rentals for as long as needed for folks in housing until they get into fully affordable housing?

and then the last thing and then obviously love to hear any questions I did just want to tell people a little bit about the federal context I know that that there's just been a lot happening in the housing world and the first thing just to let you know was that Well, first of all, SHA, Somerville Housing Authority, is what we call a shortfall, which means they're spending more money than they have on their Section 8 program. So the Somerville Housing Authority has already made a decision that they're going to try to deal with this shortfall through attrition. So they're going to try not to have to take any Section 8s away from people because they're overextended, but they won't be reissuing They won't be reissuing these vouchers until their spending is back down where it needs to be. And I think you may remember, but the housing authority

increased its payment standards a lot because the rents had gone up so much.

So now it's easier for folks with Section 8 vouchers to find a place to live within the rental cost, but the rents have gone up so much that it is causing them now to have to not have quite as many vouchers. So there's a real trade-off. We've given people enough money to allow them to lease Somerville effectively and then using the overall numbers that very few are being given to me. So it is what it is. And that's an important situation to know, which is very different than 40 years ago, where there were constantly vouchers being issued. and it was always a you know a good path for let's say my office to get somebody permanently housed and two other federal updates I wanted to give one was that HUD sent

Notice to all the housing authorities saying that there were families with discrepancies between them being in federal housing and the documentation of their eligible immigration status. so they identified had identified 50 families that they said were there was something missing in their documentation that they wanted the housing authority to go back and And the good news The bad news and the good news. Two things came out of that. There were fortunately one we know of and possibly only two families that were found to be Thank you for joining us.

some additional families and I'm waiting for some data on this from the Somerville housing authority some families had their rents go up significantly so you had two immigrant eligible people in a household of four and they check the verification and they say oh no only one person really qualifies and you have three people that aren't really eligible The rents would go up. So there were about, I'm waiting for data still, but maybe about five families that have been impacted in that way, in that once they rechecked all the verifications, their rents went up significantly. and then that one for now We have worked with two families that we were able to get fully re-verified and to help through the process of this to make sure their rents did not go up. We'll see some of them. There may be nothing we can do about. whatsoever, but some we were able to show that the data that they had was not accurate.

The bigger issue which I'm sure you guys have heard about is this proposed HUD rule on mixed immigrant status households which if implemented This came out in February. The comment period goes through April 21st. If this becomes effective, this rule, what it'll mean is that there's 34 mixed immigrant households in Somerville that are either in SHA federal housing or have section 8s. of those 34 families what they will each be told is either They have to kick out any person in their family who is not immigration eligible. That could be a parent. It could be a child, a minor child, which might in some cases, if they did that, either force them to leave or force a child into foster care.

They might divide up married couples or couples with permanent long-standing relationships. or the whole family needs still houses. so this is the you know pretty catastrophic like situation that we're in I did I think I you all may have received them I did submit comments to HUD on this um and Jasmine was helpful to me in this but There is, you know, a movement statewide and nationwide to try to get as many comments in as possible because that actually has to respond to each unique set of comments, which could take something But I think as a city, I'm just putting this on the radar because I think we're really going to just have to think about whether there's anything, housing authority can do anything We can do is there just for example might we look at some of our programs like our municipal voucher program or inclusionary program and say we should give a super priority to these families to go to the top of those wait lists because

because otherwise they're going to be literally probably either forced back into their home to go to countries wherever they came from or homeless because none of them will have the income to go there. So it's something for us to be thinking about, keep our eyes on. I imagine we won't really know until maybe the summer by the time they've responded to all the comments and to see what happens with this. But as a city, I do just want to say thank you. Moving our eyes on what happens to this population of folks that are currently in Somerville and would be negatively impacted The other thing is, as horrible as it is, my hope is if it does happen, maybe they will say we'll only do it prospectively because they've gotten enough comments to talk about the harm. with existing families. Obviously, that's a catastrophe too for new immigrants coming in, but...

you know if I I anything that would at least help to keep those families from having to lose their housing so that's and then let me see if there's anything else I think oh and then the I should give you something hopeful. I'm going to give you guys something hopeful at the end of the program. But the other last thing Fair housing issues is HUD just withdrew a whole lot of their fair housing notices. And so, for example, some of these, one of these is there was a notice that did say If you threaten to call INS on a tenant, that can constitute national origin discrimination because that is constantly an issue where we have tenants who are afraid to enforce their rights when they're undocumented, who are afraid to ask for repairs, etc., and there was this good, there were some good court cases and this good notice and that was withdrawn.

We don't know how that would or wouldn't impact courts going forward on whether or not that's still the constitute national origin discrimination and I will note that all the There's still state law and there's still state law discrimination. So I would hope that even if we couldn't pursue things under federal law, that there would still be an avenue for pursuing fair housing violations on the state side. but all of this I think the impact of all of this is also up in the air and these relate to reasonable accommodation national arts discrimination they now want to say criminal records is just the last one and then I'll stop I know I'm speaking a lot but One last one is there's a HUD memo that says an arrest in and of itself can't be grounds for disqualification because of the bias that has been shown in arrests. So the law had said that you could only use

and or open cases but not arrests as a reason to disqualify some open housing and that's another one that they um So the good news is there's great organizing going on around all of these issues. There's a lot of resistance and none of them are in place right now. So we aren't, we haven't yet seen disastrous impacts from these head changes. And I think, you know, people are really fighting back in a good way, but just wanted you to be aware of these things that are out there and have a good one. that's my update my joyful something before I end but um yeah so that's where things are currently um

Saiti,

Thank you for the presentation. That last thing that was said, I couldn't hear it. didn't want to interrupt. Councilor Strezo, when you're speaking, it can also not hear. So if that thing could be moved, that would be great. For sure. Your side. Thank you. I was the director's whole presentation. Thank you, director.

maybe when you guys say oh yeah no for sure okay Councilor Sait thank you for letting us know and before um the meeting next time we have it we will make sure we check in about that okay

It's all good just moving that to that side. It's very common when we have meetings in that room. Thank you.

And you did not catch the last part of what a director said.

The director, I heard the whole presentation, but I don't know if you, Councilor Strezo, spoke because that, from that seat is the part I cannot hear. Okay, got it.

um all right any uh i uh before i i close the uh uh keep this item in committee did you have any thoughts before we uh before we move on counselor

I do not have any questions. Just wanted to thank the director for providing us with this information. I thank you for all the work you do. Thank you.

You're welcome. Thank you. Next item. Order 260049 that the Director of Housing report to this Council how many new housing units have been approved for development year by year since adoption of Summer Vision 2040. And of those numbers, how many are permanently affordable and how the department defines affordability? This agenda item. I put forward and I put this in the request of some housing advocates that would enforce some data and happy to talk this through. We have Alana Gaffney from the Deputy Director of Housing here to speak on this item. And we have a lovely company

Catchment. Thank you very much. And Deputy Director, you have the floor. Thank you for being here.

Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair. I think to start, it's really important to go through the initial language of the order just so we're of the same definitions. Yeah. So we did end up providing this data. The chart shows the number of building permits that were issued per year. So it was stated how many new housing units have been approved for development. So that approved for development refers to building permits for us. In terms of residential new development as well, that is its own classification within our system. So I just want to make sure I call to that. Beyond that, the year-to-year since adoption of Summer Vision. So we defined that particular length of time. So we said October 1st, 2021. We ended it at March 31st, 2026. We just wanted to get that full snapshot. And of those numbers, how many are permanently affordable? and how we define affordability.

So we do provide a little bit more context in that initial paragraph to speak to that. Permanently affordable at this point if there are units that are coming online they are very likely going to have some means of a deed restriction so of many of the units especially if they're all affordable if we're talking about inclusionary When we're saying what we define as affordable, so I mean the definition that we would typically go by is affordable housing is defined as housing units that are designated for households earning below 80% of the area median income. With that said, we're not capturing the entire portfolio, particularly around inclusionary housing, if we do that. So we went ahead and we expanded it a little bit to be income restricted. I hope that's all right. Oh, perfect. So just noting that we do have an 110% AMI tier when we're talking about the rental side of inclusionary and we have

110% as well as 140% when we're talking about the homeownership side of inclusionary. So that's just to acclimate us in terms of the actual data and the chart that's there. With that said, I think there are some really important considerations and limitations that come along with the data that I want to flag. And I think part of what's important is to kind of explain how we get it. So the data was pulled from a citizen serve report, which includes building permit applications. So I already provided you with kind of the range of dates that we're talking about. It was filtered per year to make sure that we had accurate counts and making sure that when we're comparing for affordability level, there are no fields when we're talking about citizen service. that track affordability, unfortunately. So, and there's multiple reasons for that. So one, it was not originally set up in that way.

So I hope that we're not totally left with the, everything has to correspond back to the actual application. So if it's not listed as an application field, it's not going to appear in a report, which makes sense, but it's one of those things where you're like, I would love to have that data though, right? Let's talk through some of those other intricacies. So there also might be multiple building permit applications issued for the same address and land parcel. Why would that happen? So it really depends on what's currently on the parcel. So is there an existing structure or does it need to be demolished because there's a demolition permit that would exist? Beyond that, does the foundation need to be added? I assumed and I hope this was an appropriate assumption when I was going through this order that we were talking about building permits related to construction.

um so this is like almost that final stage so let's say there's a structure and it ends up needing to be demolished and a new foundation needs to be added it could have three building permits if we're getting to the construction one the construction one is going to have The latest plan set. So the reason why I selected that is it's probably the most up to date project information. Now this kind of brings us into one of the most important considerations when we're talking about this I might skip around if you're following along in the memo I apologize that bottom piece is we're looking at pipeline information it's going to change that is something that we absolutely positively know. So we anticipate that a building permit In terms of the units that are being projected, that's a best guess. So it is something where the developer is putting forward the project that they think that they're going to have, ultimately it's going to evolve over time. So I want to make sure that I note that.

Beyond that, there is another funny little reason why you might have multiple addresses having a building permit. And this has to do with MBTA communities. This has to do with There has been a little bit of a boom in terms of adding cottages onto NR parcels. So I wanted to make sure that I noted that. You might get two construction building permits for an address and it's not a mistake. That's why it was important that we went through it line for line. It might be for a triple decker. So you'll see three new residential units and then you might see a cottage and it will have the one. So we really, when we pulled this data, went through the descriptions to make sure that we weren't missing anything. Anything that didn't apply, we removed. Beyond that, if someone's pulling a building permit, they might be doing it as well for renovations. So if we're talking about updating their HVAC system, they would pull a building permit. There would be no new residential units created, so those were also removed.

Just letting you know what didn't end up in this chart, because it shouldn't be in that chart according to what the order had requested. With that, the way that these reports come through is it will let you know how many units are added as well as how many are taken away. So anything that was taking away units. So if we're saying that there is a condo conversion and this isn't necessarily something that we like to see happen, but it is two units. and someone is turning it into a single family lot they've been approved to the condo conversion board so it's something that that went through the proper channels um then you will see a negative unit um those were not included so this is a gross count it's not um it's it's not a net count I just wanted to make sure that I clarified that also um let's see if there's anything else I'm not sure I think though, I think it would be interesting to look at what we're looking at.

Something that I noticed is, I mean, most of Somerville is NR, neighborhood residential district. The majority of the permits, this didn't make it into the chart. It wasn't necessarily in the scope. It was something I was curious about. The majority of the permits that are put here, so there's 233 total building permits. So you're going to say that doesn't match with the unit number, shouldn't. Because that building permit is going to have multiple units on it. I would say 170 out of the 233 building permits are for the NR district. Now, I think that's a lead worth looking at. And the reason why I'm saying that is, again, I think we're all having this sense that there are way more smaller construction projects that are coming up on NR. Now, why might that be? There isn't an affordability requirement anymore. I think that's one piece of something that we might want to consider.

I think if we looked at the dates of when we started seeing more of those come online, we might notice after the elimination of the SPOT program, so that's the small, hold on one second, I'm going to hate myself for this, small, oh, Thank you. Property additional unit program. So you might be familiar. I believe this was something that Councilman McLaughlin worked on. And it's really about adding neighbors, adding an additional unit. They still had to get a building permit when they did that. I think the intent behind the unit, my understanding of it at least, was kind of what MBTA's community is kind of doing now at this point. And that's for neighbors to add additional units to house other neighbors affordably. What ended up happening from SPOP when we had SPOP was there were, I think, five approved units in total added the entire duration of the program and only two of those units were actually built and they were both built by developers.

ultimately we ended up making this change to be in compliance with MBTA communities and when we did that it changed whether or not there was an affordable unit that was required in NR so I'm only mentioning this because I would be interested to track that throughout I think um the other piece uh that's kind of important too if you like 178 out of 233 of the building permits included three or less new residential units which again It kind of I would venture an argument supports that conclusion of that doesn't trigger an affordability requirement. So in that case, if there's only three units that are being added, maybe Those are the types of projects that folks want to build right now because they feel like they can make the math work. Trying to see if there's anything else that's important. I will say 102 out of the building permits that were pulled for this report came from 2025 to 2026.

88 of those are for permits of three units or less. I think that truly does support that trend of we're seeing a lot more development in NR and on smaller lots. that's something to kind of watch for sure but this is the data that we ended up pulling I hope that please let me know if you have any questions I have some of these like other Commentary that's kind of, that I'm happy to share. Okay, perfect.

Of course. I'm loving these impressions too because it's all about, sometimes it's all about just following patterns.

Thank you for saying that because you can almost see it. So I almost wish we had a really great comparison between if we were to pull from 2016 to 2021 and then 2021 to 2026. I think you would see it. I mean, when you consider 2016 to 2021 assembly pretty much rose up. Like there were a lot of very large scale projects that came up from that. and then sort of at the tail end of that period in the beginning of this building permit data there are a lot of projects from union that were popping up so that's like the a lot of our higher unit number projects you'll see in that grouping and it's towards the beginning After it kind of switches I have a hunch I think and I think this is a lot of the buzz in terms of what folks in planning are talking about is there's almost a swap between these types of projects and we're really not seeing those middle

projects so if we're talking about like 10 to 20 units in terms of development it's it appears as though they've slowed down that's my perception as well But I'm happy to add that as a supplement if you feel it's helpful. If you have any other questions, please let me know.

We'd love a supplement. We'd love to. I love what you're just... Your interpretation of this as well, and how we're following this, I would very much be interested in talking further about it, just in addition to Your perception and your following the patterns, would you prefer, and we're still having the conversation, we're not looking to just end it right now, it's just very second, but Going forward or how we plan for this, would you prefer to keep it in committee or do you write another order too? Because I would love to talk about it at another meeting just in terms of what you're seeing as well. Not that we're done yet. I haven't even asked Councilor Sait, so I wouldn't want to shut her out of this. Whatever you feel is best. Okay, yeah, yeah, this is just fascinating.

With that, Councilor Sait, did you, now I was looking to my right with the TV screen.

Very good, they can hear you, Councilor. yeah this is um yeah definitely still processing this um and uh yeah yeah um you mentioned something you mentioned that because we no longer have the affordability requirement in on our There's a lot more development on our smaller lots. Is that because we took away the affordability requirement in 2019?

uh through the chair thank you so much for asking that question I think there's a piece to this puzzle as well again that intent I believe of that program was really to um right have homeowners right build units right and there were so many hoops in terms of we we got inquiries I believe we got between like it was a dozen to 20 inquiries of folks who were looking into that program and they were like this is too difficult and they decided against kind of moving forward I so I definitely think that that's a piece of it I think um I will say an important consideration with this program as well is what needed to be required was a tier three, depending on whether you were doing rental or home ownership. So of the two units that we do have built, one is a 110% AMI rental unit and the other is a 140%. I think it's a two bedroom and it's a home ownership unit.

So I think the idea with that was construction is expensive. If this is being put on a homeowner, they need to be able to get back on their investment. So they wanted to make it income restricted, but at the same point, Even by what we define as affordability, that doesn't quite pencil out. I hope that I answered your question. I'm not sure that I did.

Yeah, I think what I'm trying to get to is would, in your opinion, bring him back? Like, this is just, you know, scenario. The affordability requirement in NR... Keep this trend going of more development in NR? Or is the fact that we took that away that is triggering this pattern.

Yeah.

Yeah.

If I remember correctly, Councilor Sait, because I was not yet a counselor, but very following and part of the push for more affordable housing. And yeah, I remember when this went into the zoning overhaul, right? Like 2017, 2018, 2019, then it was finally, and and then but the problem the snag of it was that just just what deputy director said that that um the developers were were building enough or so we're what the trend seemed to be is that they were building enough to where it was like three plus one, right? And so they were building the three, but that fourth, the affordable housing option never got built. So a bunch of threes were coming up, but not fourth. and so it became such a obvious like glaring Point that I think that the city was just like, all right, it's not working.

And when we stripped down, remember how it got stripped from that. But that's where, as I recall it, it happened.

That's correct. May I also add, so I think part of it is, so because you were able to develop buy right in NR now because of MBTA communities, it's not as simple as necessarily just putting an affordability requirement back in. So I've had some interesting conversations with folks about like, how do we, where do we move from here? are there incentives? Because I think that's the path forward. But it's an excellent point. I think in order for us to remain compliant, though, when we're talking about the MBTA Communities Act, that was something where We had to do away with the SPOT program.

That was part of it. And as I recall, Councilor, We were, so before the, because the MBTA Communities Act came up, came with, came alongside with Charlie Baker. And that was like his last year. And when it was approved, and directors please if I'm like okay well that if there's a fact that this is how I recall it in my brain um right so that that came about and when we were and I believe I was in land use at that time when we were trying to implement it as a city and of course we we in Somerville were like well there's no There's no qualification because we overqualified with the MBTA Act, including all of our buy rights with ADUs and backyard cottages and such. And much to what you were saying,

trying to say deputy director that was the point of like some of the zoning ADU and backyard cottages that incentivizing that ADU production and Affordability, Option, Sustainable Homeownerships. And that's part of the thing. I won't get into this because it's another agenda item, but that's What I was trying to do as well and what some of the housing advocates are trying to do with the zoning amendments that are in the land use currently. trying to incentivize or what's not working and what we've seen with our, at least the research or the conversations I've had is that we have to get creative with how we incentivize, but it's a possibility, but it's been done. but very much we have to get creative on what that looks like and we're already bywriting so.

That's right.

Councilor. I saw you might go off, so.

Yeah, so right now for the MBTA Communities Act, The parcels that are close to the transit, right? they're zoned at four stories is that like they can the developers can build up to four is that correct through youtube sorry

Did you, or are you asking, you're asking Deputy Director?

We have. Through the Chair. I know that there are I know that there's still a process going on to actively interpret pieces of this and how it's implemented because I think we're seeing that stage at this point of kind of how What requirements you still must adhere to in terms of what is, you can't be held to more strict requirements than the least, I'm not going to say this as eloquently as my peers in ISD or PPC, so I might defer to them. But I believe there's ongoing conversations about how we're best interpreting that.

Right. And I echo everything that I've heard. Thank you. Thank you. Our struggle with that is, it's not a struggle, it's different than a lot of other communities. Luckily, we're not like, we don't have to convince anyone that this is a value of us and that brings me There's a silver lining to say that we're not actually trying to actively encourage our community that this is important that we need more housing and that we need more um we need to make sure our neighbors can stay in our community especially our lowest income Residence.

This is a value that we hold dear and that that means a lot because yeah they're absolutely when I talk to other advocates throughout the state that is not always the case or or the message of communication being like well I know that if the community saw or saw what we understood the what we're trying to say here that they feel yeah of course we need that but then people it's so A lot of people need to, there's still a lot of information campaigns and communication that needs to happen in some communities. So we have a lot of good bones to our structure, I guess. I'll stop. But thank you. Thank you for your thoughts on that. Councilor, are you good or do you...

Yeah, I think I'm good. I think this will probably come up in land use soon because in my ward they have developers that are... Building for three stories in parcels that are zoned for four. And it's just... just avoiding building that fourth unit because that fourth unit will trigger the affordability requirement and we are thinking creatively about it as we are Looking into potentially upzoning those parts, like the lots that are within the MBTA Communities Act. So, yeah, I think this is just the beginning of that conversation. Thank you.

I have no further questions.

Thank you very much, Pastor. And just to be clear, the three plus one doesn't, it's not on the books anymore, as far as we took that off. Like, so that fourth affordability, correct? That affordability option, it's It's null at this point in Somerville. And then the qualifications for the MET Communities Act, that's a whole separate bucket full of lots of nutritious Things. And yeah, Councilor, you have a lot going on in your board. A lot of activity over there. But the three plus one is not there. or not collectively in Somerville at this very second. Okay. Thank you very much for this information. Yeah, I'm happy to follow up with you and I on just how to best proceed on having this talking further about this.

I'm not sure if I should, because this is really great. but I don't want would you prefer we that I just we can talk further offline I'm just wondering if I should um keep it in committee um you did some Let's, let's, um, we'll put this as mark work complete and then we can submit, all right, we can talk further about the additional data and information and how to get it back on the agenda and talk because that's a really good start. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And thanks for coming out on this lovely April. Spring, Dave, and in person. All right, last on the agenda. Okay.

Last on the agenda is... an officer's communication item 260141 your housing commission conveying the fy 2024 annual report pursuant to section 7177 of the closing ordinances i know what you're saying 2024. Yes. Okay. Yeah, it's not passe. Uh-uh. We... This is how the first off, okay, so then there was a whole last year, right? And, and, and, um, the submitting of that and it went through and then of course we had the change of the 2025 and 2026 this was admitted um it carried over to this this year um and and was submitted submitted in 2026 yeah we could have just been like all right we're done with this but I thought it was good to just Talk about it, review it, because a lot of work under this.

Also, may I add that what the Fair Housing Commission does is it's a lot of afterthought on this and calculating and thinking out the data. which brings us to this present moment of April 2026 and thank you very much. We have a fair housing specialist and inclusionary support, Shannon Waller, here tonight. Thank you for being here in person and with me. Thank you. I'm going to step out for one second next door. I'm here, but I'm just getting some water.

Thank you. So yes, you should be receiving the FY25 report soon, but wanted to get this through First to see if there was any feedback or anything that might need to be reflected in the FY25 report. I'll start by saying that this is for FY24. I was not the Fair Housing Specialist during that year. I started in July of 2025. So I've been the Fair Housing Specialist for almost the entirety of, or August of 2025, so almost the entirety of FY25 and FY26. So if you have questions, I most likely will be able to answer them. But if you have questions about how things have been going since then, I'm definitely happy to answer that.

So, yes, to start with the background, this is as of FY24, so the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing Rule, it was issued under the Obama It was terminated in 2020. It called for municipalities to foster inclusive communities by addressing persistent segregation, housing discrimination, and then the city submitted an assessment of fair housing which will be referenced later on in the report. The Biden administration proposed a simplified version of the AFFH Rule, but no final rule was issued by the end of FY24. And then just adding this in, it was not issued by the end of the Biden administration and has been taken away since then. So that's some background on the federal context. State context.

The state legislature increased the appropriation for MCAD for the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination. so that the agency was no longer reliant on federal funding in FY23. So that was good and good to know going into new federal administration. and MCAD received 439 housing related complaints. This is over the whole state of Massachusetts in FY24. So that can give a little more context to the number of complaints that were submitted from Somerville to MCAT as well. And then for the local context, the Anti-Displacement Task Force submitted a home rule petition to City Council to allow rent stabilization in Somerville. This was unanimously passed by City Council and referred to State Legislature Joint Committee on Housing. and I'll talk a little bit more about that as well later on. Okay.

So going into enforcement, In FY24, the Fair Housing Commission continued from FY23, exploring the idea of becoming a substantially equivalent agency to HUD in order to enforce fair housing law. and address long wait time issues for complaints submitted to MCAD. um so the next line here says becoming substantially equivalent agency was determined not to be feasible as it would require a home rule petition this isn't the full picture um I'm actually gonna Read from the Anti-Displacement Task Force Residential Displacement Committee's report, just to provide a little bit more context. So the law department concluded the city could expand the investigatory and fact-finding duties to cases within the jurisdiction of MCAD without first needing approval from state legislature.

However, in their opinion, the only penalties that could be issued for failure to comply with local fair housing ordinance without new home rule authority would be those fines permissible under Mass General Law Chapter 40, Section 21 about enforcing ordinances with a maximum of $300 per day per violation. and all parties concluded that it would be difficult for inspectional services department to enforce this ordinance because it depends on individuals to file complaints and cases relying on verbal evidence which can be difficult to prove for inspectional services so that's a little bit of more context and background and if you have a question we can hold the phone what that's amazing

That's really exciting. Hold on. That's really exciting.

Okay. So that's a little bit of background on enforcement. and why enforcement isn't happening right now. And just to add to that, I think that a big piece of that is the staff capacity, you know, given that the fair housing specialist position right now is only half time with fair housing. and then also ISD at least based on the Somerville Residential Displacement Committee.

Because each director and every presenter has their own style. I'm interrupting you during the presentation. I will keep my mouth shut. No, go ahead. But in your brain, it's way better if I like, we're here, let's talk about this. Okay, next full point, we talk about this. Yes. whatever works with okay we explored this with with the Fair Housing Commission and the fact that and and okay I have all these word bubbles above my head there's so much okay number one Yeah, we were told that the only way we could really do this is through a home rule petition and we have a bucket of home rule petitions in Somerville and this is not. Okay, so it's very exciting to hear this new information. Okay, with ISD, I'm in my fourth term now.

I love my ISD. However, it's always been a matter of staffing and priorities of what gets... Prioritize with this. And on the fact, the point of, on the point of, so of verbal responses, yeah, okay, that's complicated. When it comes to fair housing discrimination. However, there was a time in history that I remember living through free smartphone where we had to rely on verbal evidence for stuff um so ever the optimist we lived in a time of history where this is possible i'm not saying like stop everything and Proceed forward, but this is really interesting information.

Yeah, if I could add a little bit to it as well, and this is not on the report, so that's all right. But there is the protected class of family or relationship structure in Somerville, which is not protected by the state or federal law because this is something that we've added to our fair housing ordinance. Up to this point, we haven't received any complaints with that as a protected class. But if we were to receive complaints with that as a protected class, we would probably need to go through ISD for enforcement if there were to be an enforcement process because the state won't be able to enforce it. So if that adds a little bit of somewhere where ISD should be able to enforce it, like a little bit of context there.

I think also within the Anti-Displacement Task Force Residential Committee Report, it does talk a little bit about what Cambridge does. Cambridge Human Rights Commission. It's not just housing, but they are a substantially equivalent agency.

And as I recall, I'm sorry. No, go ahead. As I recall with the Human Rights Commission in Cambridge, they received the ability to do that like in the 90s when no one was thinking of it like this.

Yes, and Ellen, I think is the person who, so we have the expert in the room.

Of course. I'm not surprised it's amazing and thank you because I remember feeling like when we've explored this with the Fair Housing Commission and always hitting that wall of like well that was done in the 90s this is 2020 x that by state permission now, because we would need a home rule petition to get that permission to make our own investigative abilities in Somerville, that's where we would get lumped in all the HRPs begging and pleading with the state that maybe to give us permission to do that. Yeah. Holy crowbar.

Their investigator is a licensed attorney and it's an investigator position. So that's another piece of context there. with the Cambridge Human Rights Commission in terms of like what staffing might look like if we were to start enforcing. Yeah, let me see if I have anything else. As of January 2024, there were only four backlogged housing complaints from Somerville with MCAD. And... yeah that is the information that I have on enforcement right now I know it has been an ongoing conversation with This committee and also within the Fair Housing Commission has talked a little bit about what would we do if there were any additional protected classes that are not covered by the state or not covered by federal law.

in addition to the family and relationship structure and we got complaints about them um so yeah that's the background and enforcement um if I may really quick um

What is, so the addition set of protected class that is special to the Somerville ordinance in a posted state, you said it was family structures? It's family or relationship structure. Family or relationship structure. So that's good too because but also does that include like pre-filtering like realtors or brokers of like the lead paint?

well that would be protected under family status so including children and that is protected under state and federal law I think that this is I think the the wording A family or relationship structure I think it was made specific or not specifically but to include like polyamorous yeah um yeah people so I think that that is like The group that wouldn't be covered by the family status and structure in the way that the state does it or sexual orientation with the state. but yeah up to this point we haven't received any complaints about that but you know it's definitely something that could come up and that we should be ready for when it does in my opinion if I may I think

Because I've heard of incidences. and it's of course not okay I think um and this is something I've talked about with several of the commissioners too is I think the information of still having to get out there that people don't know yeah they may say to their friends that this happened and it is wrong but not know where to go from there and then of course aside from that is the Well, do they want to take the additional step of actually going through the threshold reporting? Because then, of course, it changes the climate.

Yeah, yeah. but that is a good segue into what the commission is trying to focus on which is that education and prevention piece um so With education for fiscal year 24, the main event, I guess, or two events was during Fair Housing Month, which is in April of every year. In FY24, the Fair Housing Commission had two events. One was a screening of the short film, Segregated by Design. which basically summarizes the book The Color of Law that was held in person at the central branch of the library. The film is in English but it had Spanish subtitles and there was also a Spanish interpreter at the event. And then the second event for Fair Housing Month in FY24 was hybrid.

It was also held at the Central Branch and over Zoom. and attorney Todd Kaplan who works for Cambridge and Somerville Legal Services shared information for best practices for tenant screening and he focused on a case that he was working on with the use of credit score and households that have vouchers or varying source of income because source of income discrimination is something that we do see a lot of the commission sees a lot of which I'll Talk more about in the next section. And then also for online outreach, the chair of the commission posts a question of the week and a news article related to fair housing. Each week on the Facebook page. You can go to the next slide. The Fair Housing Commission also started tabling.

So this has continued since FY24, but their first tabling event was at Civic Day in 2024. and they had a fair housing fact sheet and also an activity that participants of Civic Day could come up and point out discriminatory language in an advertisement. and then discuss examples of what constitutes fair housing discrimination and then talk more about it based on whether they were a renter an owner, a landlord, that sort of thing and then first-time homebuyer courses Somerville Community Corporation has first-time homebuyer courses at that point on a bi-monthly basis now it's on a monthly basis and then the course is open to anyone who would like to learn about home buying process the fair housing specialist did and still does present information on fair housing rights and responsibilities for tenants, purchasers, sellers in Somerville.

Just to add a little bit to this, I think the goal is so that not only do people know when they're searching For housing, whether it's rental or homeownership, after taking the course, what are their rights and what happens, what they can do if someone discriminates them in that search? also if they do end up buying a multi-family home you know what are other people's fair housing rights when they're looking to rent from them um and The first-time homebuyer course also covers the inclusionary program and the closing cost assistance program as part of that presentation. The Anti-Displacement Task Force. A member of the Fair Housing Commission served on the Anti-Displacement Task Force Residential Displacement Committee. That was Ronna Fishman.

and then Hanalei Steinhardt who was the fair housing specialist was also on the committee and then just going back to that home rule petition for rent stabilization and the task force continuing to identify and address housing needs in the city of Somerville with one of the priorities being addressing fair housing discrimination and enforcing fair housing law, which they did a great job on collecting that information. It's been really helpful to me in moving forward with that residential displacement committee report. And then for language access, the commission continued to facilitate use of the language access plan by providing educational materials and languages commonly spoken by Somerville residents. So for instance, with the Fair Housing Month events, having the Spanish interpreter also at the tabling events, having translations of the discriminatory language in flyers so that people can see in their language what's allowed and not allowed.

and also continuing to collaborate with the Office of Immigrant Affairs in terms of like referrals from the Office of Immigrant Affairs to the Fair Housing Commission Commission. If they notice that, you know, one of their clients seems to have something that happened to them that might be fair housing discrimination, they'll refer them over. And yeah. We can move on to assessment of fair housing priorities. So again, this is going all the way back to 2017, but these were what from, The AFFH and then the Somerville's assessment of fair housing, what the priorities were listed as, and we want to make sure that we're still sticking by those. ensuring that the commission is fully seated and staffed, increasing outreach to constituents, specifically tenants and landlords, and exploring collaboration with local fair housing agencies in the region.

So in terms of ensuring the commission is fully seated and staffed, the commission was not fully staffed or seated FY24, there were four members who were on the commission for the entire fiscal year. That's Patrice Faulkner, Dennis Fishman, Rona Fishman, and Janine Lottie. um they're the former commissioner um Claudia D'Andraggi stepped down in July 2023 and um Kay Mamo who replaced her was not approved until April of 2024 and actually didn't end up starting until early 2025. So that's a little bit of background on the seating. There was not an issue with making quorum with four members. But yeah, it did take a little bit of time from July 2023 to April of 2024 to get someone approved for the commission.

in terms of increasing outreach to tenants and landlords on fair housing issues. Again, there was outreach conducted both virtually and in person. The virtual was over the Facebook page and the hybrid event on Fair Housing Month. and then there was also in person at civic day and the other fair or both fair housing events were held at the library The Commission met and still meets virtually and meeting information is of course added to City Councilor to allow and encourage public to join monthly meetings. And then in terms of exploring regional collaborations on with local fair housing agencies. The collaboration The main one is with in FY 2024 was with SCC with the first time home buyers courses with the fair housing presentations.

and then also the specialist would refer and still does refer complaints to the relevant agency whether it's MCAD or HUD or both if someone has a complaint and then there are also connections with the Office of Housing Stability and Cambridge and Somerville Legal Services and I would just add that since then in the past two years I think that there's been a lot more collaboration with Community Partners, and regional agencies including CHAPA and MAPC. So come look out for that on the FY25 report. And now we can go to complaints. So reporting on complaints in FY24, there were 17 fair housing related reports of discrimination received between July 1st, 2023 and June 30th, 2024.

And of course, this doesn't include reports that were submitted directly to MCAT or to HUD. without first contacting the FHC, the Fair Housing Commission, because they wouldn't know about them. But reports of discrimination can be made in several ways. So they can be made through the online referral form over the phone to the staff liaison's email. They can be referred from other city departments or divisions like Office of Housing Stability, SOIA, and also people can come in person with a complaint. And then the fair housing specialist assists constituents with filing complaints with relevant enforcement agencies. When A complaint for discrimination is covered by state and federal jurisdiction. It can be submitted to both MCAD and HUD.

The only thing that I'll add on this is as the browsing specialist, I can help people submit a complaint to HUD through their online referral form. for MCAD and this might be changing soon because there are some proposed changes but right now the way that people need to file a complaint is for the most part going in person to their downtown office in Boston or sending the complaint via mail. They have some limited online intake, but it's very limited. and yeah that is that's a little bit of the background on MCAD compliance I think the The reasoning behind that is so that they have their intake specialist there to help people file the complaint and make sure that it's not rejected for any missing information or anything but

In my opinion, this can somewhat create a barrier to filing a complaint because I have heard people say, oh, I have to go all the way downtown for business hours. I don't even know when that can happen yeah what if they're disabled and can't not just they can make an accommodation definitely um if someone is disabled but it again like I do think that it can create More of a barrier. And again, they have their reasons for doing it and they have these proposed changes right now. which we'll see if they go into place but would have an online portal for people to submit and would limit the number of or the the way that people could submit to mostly being online which in that case I could help them submit the complaint the way that I would with a HUD complaint. We'll see where that goes in the upcoming year.

And then just to dive a little bit deeper into the complaints that were received, Most of the protected classes were represented in these complaints and you can see them there but the highest number of complaints were based on the protected class of disability with eight followed by sex or gender and Race. And this is a little bit different, I think, from what we've seen with other years where a source of income is a really high, like has a higher number of complaints. But for this year, those are the top three. and then most complaints received were from wards three and six and then going over to the other side Eight of the complaints were submitted to MCAD. Five were referred to OHS. Four were referred to Legal Aid Services.

2 were resolved between the tenant and landlord and 8 were left unresolved due to lack of response from the person who submitted the complaint and again some complaints were referred to more than one organization or service. So that's why there's more than the 17 total there. And that is all that I have. Open to questions.

Really quick question. So you'll have the 2025? Yes.

The draft is done. But yeah, I wanted to see if there's anything that you wanted.

Added or Neat and with where are we on MCAD catching up with backlog?

So I'm not quite sure. I did reach out to MCAD several months ago before writing this. They report their backlog for non-housing complaints. but on their annual report they don't report their housing complaint backlog so I don't have that and then I also ask them for the number of complaints from Somerville but I didn't get clear data answers on that either so I'll try to reach back out again for the FY25 report but yeah it's unclear from their the data that they publish. The only thing that I will say is that I've had people who have come to me with a complaint and have said I was looking to schedule an appointment.

and it was just booked out as far as I could tell so I didn't do it and now you know the 300 days that you have to file a complaint with MCAT is almost up and I'm not sure what to do so I think that You know, regardless of the information that I have, it seems like there is still, they do still seem to be swamped by complaints and intakes.

Wow. Wow. Thank you for this information. Sait, do you have any thoughts or questions? No questions, Councilor. Thank you. Okay, thank you. This is fantastic. And here we are, mid-April. How is Fair Housing Month? Turning up this year and I didn't even get a chance to celebrate.

It's going well. Tomorrow is the second event. The first event was last Friday. It was with the Council on Aging. So it was geared towards older landlords who own small properties. to teach them about like Rights and Responsibilities with Fair Housing Law, but also we invited Russell Cody from the Home Improvement Program to talk about if they want to participate in the Home Improvement Program and do fixes to their house. and also Penny from OHS came and presented on OHS's resources for landlords so I think it was all around a good event and Great of the Council on Aging to host. That was the first time that the commission has done a collaborative event with the Council on Aging. So it was really fun.

and then yeah the one tomorrow is at 6 30 at the library and it's also it's going to be like a book discussion book club kind of thing so looking forward to that

Wonderful. And for anyone that may want to come at 6.30 at the Central Library? Yes, at the Central Library Auditorium, just the first room downstairs. Got it. Thank you very much. And I see Councilor Say has her hand up.

Yeah, through you, Trish Strezo. Yeah, thank you for... you know um mentioning normalness of the meeting except the meeting tomorrow uh question for folks who are will be watching this um Where are these resources? Somewhere on the website? Where else can landlords, whether... You know, any landlord here in Somerville can find these resources if there's a website you can provide or... Please, if you could add that. Thank you.

Yeah, through the chair. So for the Home Improvement Program, they have their own website. and if you just reach out to housing division I have that number off the top of my head I think it's 617-625-6600 and then extension 2577 Yes, 617-625-6600 extension 2577. That would be the extension to reach Housing Division and Office of Housing Stability. So if anyone has questions for either division, then they should call there and then our admin assistant will direct them to the right place, whether it's Home Improvement Program, Fair Housing Commission. Office of Housing Stability, any questions that they have about resources for landlords or anything like that.

and probably the only other thing I can think of is the Office of Sustainability and the Environment. I know has a lot of resources that can help homeowners and landlords as well.

That's it. Yeah, through you, Chair Strezo. Thank you. Thank you for adding that. So just, again, back to my question. The best way is to just to reach out to this number and then they will connect you with the right the appropriate staff or department is this is not because you mentioned that there was a presentation last night so I'm just thinking like Are these resources, do they live somewhere in the website? Yes or no?

Through the chair, that's a good question and also a good suggestion. I think that we probably will publish the presentation on the Fair Housing Commission's website.

Yeah. Go ahead, Councilor.

Yeah, through the chair. Yeah, thank you. I think that would be really awesome. It is something in my board that you know people reach out to me about and I usually direct them to the city um but I think if this is something that can anyone can access the Justice in website that would be great thank you

Yeah, super noted. That's great, though. I'm looking forward to see, I mean, lukewarmly, because hopefully there's positive progress with less reports of fair housing discrimination, but I know that there's a lot of we're all here to hopefully do a lot of great positive changes in the world so realistically the fair housing complaints continue on but at least I hope that People are using the resources and are equipped with the knowledge to know they can at the very least. And I hope that that MCAT does Everyone else is on Zoom as well, additionally, or I think a Zoom meeting or something. So I hope that that is taken into account and happy to talk further about that because that

kind of discouraging that that is absolutely a barrier that is that you have to put on the office I assume Work hours Monday through Friday, which if you're working one or two jobs or have kids or whatnot, there are numerous barriers to why that may or may not be possible. at least if someone could do like a hybrid meeting over Zoom or even just a Zoom meeting or a Zoom table over lunch break if they do have a 9-5 office job or just that would probably Changed a lot of possibilities.

Can I add one thing? Just for the resources, just to let people know, is that we also do have a contract with legal services with de novo legal services and in that contract they have agreed for cases that would need injunctive relief really fast action typically for things like I have a Section 8 voucher and they won't rent to me but I need that apartment we do have some capacity because complaints that are filed at MCAD Don't generally have that. We go into court right away and we get this apartment held for you and we get you to move in. So we do have a backup system in case there are people that really do want to follow up on the we want this apartment. They said no Section 8s. Just to know that there are some additional enforcement resources, legal resources through de novo that we might be able to also use to address fair housing. you know discrimination so did just want to note that as an another possible resource

I'll add one more thing too.

That and Suffolk Law's Housing Discrimination Testing Program. Are they doing Are they doing it again? They still have it, yeah. So I have referred people there in the past year and they have gotten in contact with them. So that's just another resource in case, you know, since MCAD. You know, we want to have as many resources as possible.

Right. That's wonderful. Well, thank you. Thank you very much. That's our site. You good? and no further questions thank you counselor all right super okay um well thank you very much for your information and for being here tonight and I look forward to So with that, I will mark this for approval. We ran out of agenda items. With that, I move to for looking forward.

Thank you so much. And we need to adjourn.

So with the vote on yes, by voting to adjourn, but that also triggered the

Sait. Lane. Chair Strezo.

Yes.

All right. That is 727 and we are adjourned.

Thank you very much and thank you all for showing up tonight and for all your hard work. Have a good night.