The city of Boston plans to spend $2.5 million this year to start a rental voucher program Mayor Marty Walsh first proposed in last year’s State of the City address.
The program, which will operate similarly to Section 8 federal housing vouchers, will offer an additional pot of money to deepen the affordability of existing and in-development income-restricted housing, Walsh’s office said in an announcement Friday. The program will be managed by the Boston Housing Authority and was developed with help from a stakeholder group of low-income residents, nonprofits, service providers and landlords.
“Boston is a home for all, and these vouchers will allow more of our low-income families to have stable, secure housing, a cornerstone of residents’ wellbeing,” Walsh said in a statement. “We are using every tool available to us to ensure families in our communities can continue to call Boston home.”
Housing operators and developers interested in incorporating the new project-based vouchers into their developments will be invited to apply via an RFP from the BHA. Similar to Section 8, vouchers are funded by annual appropriation while the commitment to stable affordable housing is secured through long-term contracts between the Boston Housing Authority and the property owner.
Michael Kane, spokesperson for the City Rent Subsidy Coalition and the Mass Alliance of HUD Tenants, said the $2.5 million will provide housing for “hundreds” of currently homeless families with children in city schools.
City councilor and mayoral candidate Michelle Wu called last week for Boston to leverage its sizeable bonding authority and AAA credit rating to boost funding for affordable housing development, saying the city could raise up to $2 billion over 30 years.
A new study from Zillow shows that the value of Section 8 vouchers has not kept up with increases in typical rent prices in Boston since 2015. In addition, the number of available vouchers is far outstripped by demand.
Researchers found there are 2.5 severely cost burdened households – that is, households spending 50 percent or more of their income on rent – per available voucher, and 5.2 moderately burdened households which spend 30 percent or more of their income on rent per available voucher.
The study came as Zillow announced the addition of an anti-discrimination feature in its rental listings platform that offers information about local laws, like Massachusetts’, that prohibit discrimination based on rent.
