Salem News
Dream of home ownership still eludes many
Monday, November 28, 2005
The sign looks like one of those posted along roadways throughout the commonwealth identifying the name of the community one is entering and the date it was founded. Only this one states: "If you don't already live in this town, you probably can't afford to."
The take-off on the familiar marker is part of the "home@last" campaign recently launched by the Citizens Housing and Planning Association (CHAPA) and the North Shore Housing Trust to draw attention to the need for new strategies that will allow more people to realize the American dream of owning a home of their own.
Consider the following statistics:
- In 1998 nearly all 34 Essex County communities were deemed affordable to those families earning the median household income. Today, only two remain in that category.
- The median price of a home in the region is about $420,000. A family earning the median income of $52,000 can only afford to pay $230,000.
- Nearly 19,000 Essex County renters and 34,000 homeowners are considered "cost burdened" when it comes to housing — in other words they use more than 30 percent of their income to pay the rent or mortgage.
The home@last campaign aims to convince cities and towns of the desperate need to increase the stock of housing north of Boston. While prices appear to be moderating slightly, the tight supply — a product of limited space and restrictive zoning regulations — means that thousands of families are forced to look elsewhere.
The result is increased traffic on our highways as people commute longer distances to work, and an exodus of both young and old residents to other parts of the country where housing costs are more reasonable.
"The lack of readily available and affordable housing of all types is a challenge to sustainable development in our region," according to Jennifer Raitt, executive director of the North Shore Housing Trust.
In recent years Gov. Mitt Romney and the Legislature have taken steps to encourage the construction of more housing that will be affordable not just to the affluent, but those of modest and average means.
A new law — Chapter 40r — allows communities to take the lead in developing affordable housing rather than wait to have it imposed on them by developers using another law — the dreaded Chapter 40b. And the state has pledged to subsidize education and infrastructure costs for those communities that encourage "smart growth" by removing density and other restrictions in areas that lend themselves to cluster development and have access to public transportation.
CHAPA, the North Shore Housing Trust and their allies in this campaign will be going from one community to another in the coming months encouraging voters and their elected representatives to pay more than lip service to this growing crisis.
We'll know they've succeeded when cities and towns start using their zoning policies to encourage reasonable development rather than to simply keep people out.