Document Type
Research Report
Publication Date
3-1983
Keywords
housing, Boston, Massachusetts, affordable housing, housing policy
Disciplines
Housing Law | Public Administration | Public Policy | Social Policy | State and Local Government Law | Urban Studies
Abstract
Urban stagnation and turbulence, the roller-coaster trends In the national and local economy and the vicissitudes of national, state and local public policies have left their mark on Boston's residential neighborhoods and housing markets.
Boston's response to the new opportunities of public policy during the sixties and seventies was to take full advantage of urban renewal, assis ted-housing production and housing rehabilitation. Large-scale activities reshaped the occupancy patterns and market strengths of residential neighborhoods. By mid-1975, however, except for continuing growth in the City's subsidized housing stock, Boston's housing future looked bleak. There was pervasive evidence of a growing housing problem—physical neglect in public housing, exacerbated by major changes in tenant occupancy and acknowledged powerlessness of the tenant constituency to effect improvements; an increasing number of mortgage defaults, assignments or foreclosures in the large inventory of HUD-assisted multifamily rental housing; and the eroding effects on conventionally-financed private rental housing of rent regulation, inflation and high interest costs. Boston was experiencing relative stagnation in its housing markets. Residential property values in the strongest neighborhoods were barely able to keep pace with inflation while those in transitional and weak housing markets seemed to face an uncertain future.
Recommended Citation
Slavet, Joseph S. and Boston Urban Observatory, University of Massachusetts Boston, "Housing Issues in Boston: Guidelines for New Policy and Program Perspectives" (1983). Boston Urban Observatory Publications. 6.
https://scholarworks.umb.edu/bostonurbanobservatory_pubs/6
Publisher
Boston Urban Observatory
Included in
Housing Law Commons, Public Administration Commons, Public Policy Commons, Social Policy Commons, State and Local Government Law Commons, Urban Studies Commons
Comments
This is a condensed version of a working paper prepared for The Boston Committee, Inc.