The long-overdue Davis Square Neighborhood plan needs more of your input. Even if you’ve attended meetings, written letters, spoken to your councilors, or completed surveys, it’s time for another. Please complete the latest Davis Square Neighborhood Plan survey before September 27 and let the city know it’s time for action and housing in Davis Square.
Join the Zoning Board of Appeals
The Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) sits at the intersection of state law, city zoning code, and common sense. If you sweat the small stuff and have a few hours a week to devote to city policy, this is a huge opportunity to influence what gets built and how. It comes with a stipend of about $500 a month for main board members and $250 for alternates. You can find ZBA application details on the city website.
Volunteer Opportunities with Abundant Housing MA
On September 17th and 23rd, call your legislators in support of duplexes and “Yes in God’s Backyard” rules to allow more religious groups to build housing. It’s quick, easy, and requires only a couple of calls!
AHMA is also seeking volunteers to door knock in Watertown for Ballot Question #7, Legalize Starter Homes. For details, reply to this message and we’ll connect you with AHMA’s organizing team.
Events
Saturday, September 19: Fluff Festival — Come to Union Square for sweet, sticky fun, including building with marshmallows at the Somerville YIMBY table! In Union Square, 1 to 5 pm.
Wednesday, September 23: Somerville YIMBY Monthly Meeting— Join us to talk strategy, the upcoming special election for City Council, and more. 6:00 pm, online via Zoom.
Thursday, September 24: How Housing Scarcity is Costing Massachusetts Political Power — BU Professor Maxwell Palmer will connect the dots between local housing policy, demographic shifts, and national politics. If you’re unhappy with the current direction of national politics, this is a way to take concrete, meaningful action locally. Online and in person in Newton.
Wednesday, September 30: Zoning Board of Appeals — Agenda includes redevelopment of the Teele Square Pit, which has remained stalled for nearly fifteen years. Online at 6 pm.
CAAS Affordable Housing Fundraiser
The Community Action Agency of Somerville is raising money to buy market-rate properties and convert them to permanently affordable housing. “Naturally occurring” affordable housing — market-rate housing at modest prices — is rare and getting rarer in Somerville, and your donation can help set some aside for families in need.
Recommended
Councilors propose updates to zoning ordinances for more accessible housing — It’s shockingly difficult to make an old Somerville home accessible for people with disabilities, and that’s got to change.
Knock, knock: The impact of large subsidized housing developments on the surrounding community — Research shows that affordable housing built under the Massachusetts 40B program has no negative impact on the fiscal health of local communities.
Low property taxes freeze the youth out of the economy — A new academic study shows how low property taxes can actually make it harder to buy property.
Infill housing delayed is climate action denied — Housing policy is climate policy.
What a canceled battery project in Tewksbury says about New England's aging power grid — It’s not just housing we have trouble building.
26-Story Apartment Finished in 5 Days — Meanwhile, we can’t build a 5-story building in 5 years.
UHERO Economists Drill Down On Housing Policy — An interview with the University of Hawaiʻi economists about their study of the housing crisis in Honolulu.