There is currently a shortage of housing vouchers for lowest income families, so:
Sciortino and more than 50 other representatives back a bill that would wisely and mercifully add $10 million to the state’s voucher program. This money would stabilize existing vouchers and create 1,200 new ones.
Who would get the help? Working families earning very low salaries, such as child-care workers, home health aides, and medical assistants whose average annual salaries can range from $20,000 to $30,000. Workers who earn the minimum wage make only $14,040. It’s all considerably less than the state’s median family income of $74,400 in 2005, according to the US Department of Housing and Urban Development. And once families pay the rent, they have little left for other essentials and some are at risk of becoming homeless.”
This is an important first step, but I don’t get the sense most low income workers want to live off the state and federal government forever.
What other ways are there to make housing more affordable for lowest income workers in the long run?
A lot. And places like Lincoln and Concord have to stop the silliness of requiring two-acre lots and byzantine wetland definitions, and allow compact, “smart-growth” developments.
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The already-dense places, like Cambridge and Somerville, are building up. That’s good. But we need a big old release valve that the ‘burbs can provide.
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Here’s much much more on zoning reforms.
I think it’s great for the ‘burbs to start liberalizing their zoning laws, but if we expect low-income folks to live out there, then we’ve got to give them a way to get to work cheaply.
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Hence, sensible mass transit policy.
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– Get rid of that ridiculous Forward Funding law and put the state back in the business of mass transit
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– Decrease, dramatically, fares on the commuter rail, T and buses; and make subway-to-bus transfers free
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– Get rid of the Romney clowns on the T Rider’s Oversight Board